


Green-Eyed Monster

by Maolin



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Betrayal, Collegestuck, Drugs, Flushed Romance | Matesprits, Fucked up shit tbh, Gen, Humanstuck, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Jealousy, Masterplans, Multi, Now rated mature cos the ending may scar the innocent children, POV Kanaya Maryam, Plot Twists, School, Secrets, Slow Build, University, all the twists
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-31
Updated: 2016-09-06
Packaged: 2018-05-10 15:54:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 15
Words: 48,558
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5592283
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maolin/pseuds/Maolin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kanaya is all ready to start her first year at university. Unfortunately, getting work done isn't exactly easy when the majority of her roommates are psychologicaly disturbed and her city is flooded with crime.</p><p>Hopefully Kanaya can figure out who to lay her trust in and who to avoid at all fucking costs. After all, the wrong decision could leave her begging for death.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Arrival

“We’re here, Miss,” the cab driver said as the car pulled up next to the unfamiliar campus, “that’ll be…”

“Forty-three pounds eighty, yes,” Kanaya replied, digging around in her purse before handing the money over, “thank you.”

“No problem, Miss,” he answered, pocketing the money “need any help with your bags?”

“No it’s perfectly ok, I can manage,” she said and unloaded her two jade-green suitcases from the back of the car. She waved politely before turning towards the building before her.

Here she was, finally; Husscity University, the place she had been dreaming of going to for – oh – years? She’d always had a flair for fashion, art and design, and now she was taking a three-year course to become a Fashion Designer – her dream job. However, her parents weren’t exactly happy about the path she’d chosen to take; they’d always raised her to be some kind of doctor, and although Kanaya was caring and often the ‘mum’ of her friendship group, the need to create overtook all else and she rejected the idea. That was why neither of her parents had decided to help her settle in on her first day.

Still, holding her head high she hauled her suitcases up the two flights of stairs to dorm 22 and knocked on the door twice.  
Hearing no answer, she tried again.

“God, hold on,” an agitated voice called, “can’t you open a door by yourself?”

The door swung open and in front of Kanaya stood a girl with long black choppy hair and piercing cobalt blue eyes behind a pair of thin-framed glasses. Her black t-shirt had a blue spider design on it and she shrouded herself with a thin grey cardigan paired with dark blue jeans.

“So?” the girl prompted impatiently.

“So what?” Kanaya answered. 

“So can’t you open a damned door by yourself?” she repeated, still holding onto the doorframe and preventing entrance.

“Well, I did have a lot of bags and I…”

“And am I supposed to give a shit?”

“Well, no, I suppose not,” Kanaya said bluntly, “but I expected my new roommates to show a little courtesy and help me when in nee…”

“Oh!” the girl interrupted and held the door wide open, “you’re the last girl, right, got it. Why didn’t you say so? I expected you to use your key when you arrived.”

Kanaya shuffled her things inside and said, “What difference would that have made?”

“For starters I would have known you weren’t some sort of creep trying to get into our dorm for no good reason,” she replied and shut the door, “haven’t you heard about the pranks they play on Freshers? Gotta keep your guard up…uh, what was your name?”

“Kanaya,” she replied.

“Right, Kanaya,” she said and held out a hand, “I’m Vriska, it’s cool to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you too,” Kanaya said, shaking the offered hand.

“Oh and by the way, you’re sharing a room with me,” Vriska added, playfully winking and sticking out her tongue, “all the other twin rooms are taken and you were last to arrive so snooze you lose I guess. But in this case you win, obviously, because you get to share with me!”

“Oh, well I am looking forward to spending the next year with you,” she replied, “So could you show me to your room? Our room, I mean. I’d like to put these bags somewhere.”

“Sure, I’ll give you the grand tour I guess, not that there’s anything grand about it,” Vriska replied and walked the short distance into the living-area, “so we got a TV here, some crummy sofas and a bunch of empty shelves basically. I guess we’re all meant to hang out here as a group, but I doubt the other bozos here will ever come out of their rooms.”

“Oh yes, I somehow forgot that there must be others here,” Kanaya replied, “I’d like to meet them soon, if that is possible?”

“Don’t get too ahead of yourself,” Vriska said brusquely, crossing her arms, “these guys aren’t the damn comedy club, I’ve hardly heard from any of them since arriving.”

Vriska pointed out the small kitchen but ended up not going into the promised ‘grand’ description and instead led her down a small hallway before reaching a line of three doors. She opened the first one to reveal an off-white coloured room with an en suite bathroom to the left and two beds at the top of the room. It would have been a perfect blank canvas for ideas had suitcases not been resting on both beds and posters hanging limply on walls and dice just lying all over the floor.

“Oops, sorry I kind of forgot I was going to have company at some point,” Vriska commented with a smirk and started kicking all the dice over to one side of the room, “I’m pretty messy, hope you don’t mind.”

“It’s ok,” Kanaya said unconvincingly and stood her suitcases next to the bed being cleared, “as long as it doesn’t get out of hand. I can help you clean it if you like?”

“Nah, it’s ok. I’ve come to like the chaos,” she smiled deviously, “so what kind of degree does a neat-freak like you do?”

“Oh I’m a Fashion Design student,” Kanaya replied joyfully.

“Ah right, I guess that makes sense,” she said, “stuck-up pretty girls usually go into that sort of thing.”

“I am not a stuck-up pretty girl!” Kanaya snapped back quickly.

“Ooh, hit a nerve did I?” Vriska inquired then let out a cackle, “whatever, just chill out fussy fangs.”

“You can stop referring to me that way too,” Kanaya huffed, although slightly embarrassed by her earlier unexpected tone of voice, “thanks.”

“Are you kidding? ‘Thanks’?!” Vriska burst into laughter, “Oh God, girl you have to sort yourself out. But don’t worry, I’ll let you take some tips from me.”

Kanaya rolled her eyes but smiled. It seemed impossible to stay mad at this girl for too long, maybe it was because she was rude most of the time so it numbed the impact of her words? Whatever, she must have had something happen to her if she felt the need to project her narcissism so arrogantly. She had always made a point not to judge others purely on exterior impressions, after all. And anyway, it wasn’t like anyone else in the dorm seemed willing to even greet her, maybe this Vriska girl was the nicest person on campus? Dear Lord…

“Hey Kanaya, quit looking at me like that.” Vriska said, interrupting her thoughts, “what’s your deal?”

“Oh, uh, nothing I guess,” she replied, “I was just wondering to myself where everyone else might be?”

“I told you: clogged away in their rooms like the antisocial idiots they are,” Vriska said, “go see them if you want, but I have to warn you that they’re all a waste of good oxygen.”  
Kanaya frowned, which made Vriska grin. She exited the room and went to the next door along and knocked twice upon the door.

“Come in!” called a melodic voice.

Kanaya opened the door but a figure suddenly blocked her path, just as Vriska had done to her earlier.

“Halt!” shouted a girl with a raspy voice, “do you have a warrant to enter this room?”

The girl wore a teal t-shirt and black jeans, her bright scarlet pointed glasses were the most obvious accessory however. Kanaya sighed, tired of the increasing difficulty of getting around her own dorm. “I have a key, if that’s what you mean.”

“Anyone can get a key,” the girl replied, her t-shirt waving as she hung on the top of the door frame. This position meant that Kanaya could easily barge past thus tipping the girl over, but she had more class than that of course.

“If you want me to get a piece of paper which says ‘search warrant’ on it I can do that,” she answered, “but it would be much easier if I could just…”

Kanaya stepped forwards slightly but the girl dropped from the door and spread herself out sturdily to stop her.

“Nope!” she chirped, “I think a piece of paper with ‘search warrant’ written on it would be a much better idea!”

Rolling her eyes, Kanaya grunted “fine” and turned away. But just before she left, the girl grabbed her shoulder and placed a piece of red chalk in her hand, “here,” she said mischievously, “red is the tastiest”.

***

Not knowing what else to do really, Kanaya started to draw on a piece of paper from her notebook. Unsurprisingly, chalk didn’t seem to work very well on paper, and she expected the girl knew this and took delight in her torment. Ugh. But having no other drawing utensils nearby she…wait what was that in the kitchen? Walking over to the fridge, she tried to pry her fingers between the appliance and the wall, though her only success seemed to be that of getting dust and other disgusting substances on her fingers. She shuddered and wiped her hand on a towel, dreading to think of the gunk she just shoved her skin onto. After a bit of a struggle she grabbed the rectangular object out from the side of the fridge to reveal that it was a blackboard!

“Not so smart now, are you?” Kanaya muttered to herself with a smile.

Pulling up the search engine Trollgle on her phone, she quickly searched for a picture of a search warrant and carefully copied it onto the blackboard. Holding it out in front of her, she beamed at how accurate she had managed to make it – even going as far as to make up her own case number.

She hurriedly returned to the door and knocked once again, and this time held the search warrant up to the red-eyed girl and barked, though not too loudly, “my name is Kanaya, and I wish to meet my new roommates. Open up: I have a warrant!”

The girl chortled and said “oh my God that was so great, come right in.”

Kanaya walked into a room which was set up in an identical way to her own, but this room just didn’t look like it had miraculously survived a nuclear bomb. On one side of the room there were a number of circular mirrors perched on the wall like clear bubbles, and a few empty birdcages hung around the fuchsia bed. On the other side, toy dragons lay amiss scattered around and the wall had random colourful patches of paper, material, etc. stuck carelessly onto it like a strange patchwork quilt. But a wall.

“Sorry about all that,” a cute girl stood before her; she wore a black tank top and an aqua blue and grass green skirt which trailed longer at the back, her deep brown wavy hair reached down to her waist and she wore a pair of oval-shaped pink glasses. “Terezi was being an idiot and wouldn’t let me let you in!”

“It’s ok,” Kanaya replied, “I’m starting to get used to not being allowed in places. And it was kind of fun actually.”

“Oh that’s great! I’m glad you enjoyed the little trial,” she smiled then added, “I’m Feferi, I heard you say your name was Kanaya?”

“Yes, it is,” she answered, “I like your room, it’s very…vibrant. It’s pretty.”

“Thank you so much!” she exclaimed, cocking her head and letting the beads around her neck jangle, “you really like it?”

“Yes, I especially like your lamp,” she said, pointing at the blue lava lamp standing on a bedside table with little translucent jellyfish bobbing in it, “It’s very charming, they almost look real.”

“Unfortunately they are…artifishial,” and with that she burst into fits of giggles, “sorry! We were talking about fish and that was a really obvious pun, I love fish puns, don’t you think they’re great?”

“They certainly are amusing,” Kanaya agreed, though a little uncomfortably, “I noticed that your side of the room is generally fish-themed, I suppose you must find the ocean quite tantalising?”

“I come from a long line of famous marine biologists, that’s why!” Feferi replied, supressing the last of her laughter, “I was brought up learning about sea-life and going scuba-diving with my parents to collect coral samples and stuff. I’ve got a legacy to uphold, so I’m doing a degree in marine biology so I can make my own underwater footprint! Metaphorically, duh.”  
“Of course,” Kanaya responded, “well I think you’re doing a good job at making your room suitably fishy.”

“Thank you! I try to bring the sea into my everyday life, but a lot of people get really annoyed with my puns so I have to try to hold back a little,” she said with a frown, “but I could make tons if I wanted to!”

“Well as long as your squiggly water animals don’t get too close to my dragons’ lair I don’t care how fishy this room gets,” Terezi commented, “because fish are the natural prey of dragons, everybody knows that."

“N-o-o-o-o!” Feferi squealed “don’t you dare!”

“My dragons will eat all of the fish.”

“But…”

“All of them.”

Feferi frowned and sat on her fuchsia bed, it was possible that she muttered “meanie” and then what sounded like “glub”.

The girl turned to Kanaya and said, “I’m Terezi, but I guess you got that?”

“Yes, I believe I did,” she replied, “so Feferi’s avocation is fish and you are fond of…dragons?”

“Yup,” Terezi said, “dragons and law, as you also probably got from the whole search warrant thing. That was awesome by the way, good work actually being a fun team player, unlike some people…”

“What do you mean?”

“She and this Vriska girl used to have a kind of feud,” Feferi informed softly while Terezi clenched her fists, “but that was like, years ago right? If I were you I’d just let it go…university is meant to be one of the most exciting times in our lives! Can’t we all get along?”

“You don’t know what she used to do,” Terezi growled, “I can be civil with her because I’m a law-abiding person. But it doesn’t mean I want to be the best of chums or anything.”  
There was an awkward silence for a minute or two.

Kanaya diverted her eyes while the silence continued.

“I, um, like the colours,” she said, slicing the silence, but not the awkwardness, “on your wall I mean.”

“Oh. Right.” Terezi said, “Yeah I’m blind so I like to have colours around. I can taste them.”

“Oh.”

Another awkward silence started to develop. It would have gotten further into its maturity if Kanaya hadn’t had said, “despite being thoroughly perplexed and seeing no path of logic in your statement, I will just ask: how can you taste colour?”

Terezi grinned, “It’s a special talent I have. I’ve spent so long being blind that I’ve learnt to see through tastes and smells, you know how with blind people the other senses heighten?”

“Interesting,” she said, “I didn’t know it worked quite like that. I think I’m meeting a lot of strange new people today…no offence intended of course.”

“Some taken,” she answered with a devious wink, “but yeah, there’s a lot of weirdos in Husscity as far as I can see. And by ‘see’ I mean smell. I think the strangest has to be that Rose girl though.”

“I’m sure she’s just shy!” Feferi argued, “Maybe she just needs some time to come out of her clamshell?”

Terezi eyed her, “I’ll let that one pun slide. God they’re so cheesy…” she said, “but no, shy is one thing but to totally ignore everyone is another. She hasn’t even said hello!”

“So you have attempted to greet her?” Kanaya prompted. 

“Well when I first arrived I tried to get her attention but she just ignored me,” Terezi pouted, “and I even knocked on her door but she won’t come out. It’s just plain rude!”

“Hmm, maybe I should try to approach her,” she said, “I would feel guilty if I didn’t at least try.”

“Have fun with that,” Terezi went to sit on her bed, as if putting the conversation to rest, “it was neat to meet you anyway.”

“Yeah, I hope we get to sea you more soon!” Feferi smiled.

“I can tell you just spelt that S-E-A, even without tasting the spelling,” Terezi sighed, “are you just going into hyper-active drive since we have company or what?”  
“I don’t know!” she giggled, “I can’t seem to kelp it! I should reely clam up but I just can’t!”

“Jegus…this is a crime. I’m gonna get a warrant for your arrest one of these days Peixes,” Terezi sighed and then casually waved as Kanaya turned to make her way out of the room, she smiled and waved goodbye in reply.

***

She reached the final bedroom door and knocked.

She knocked again.

And again.

“Hello?” she said, “it’s Kanaya, your roommate?”

She knocked again.

“I wish to extend an invitation to meet you.”

She knocked once again.

“Are you even in there?”

“Go away,” a low voice replied.

“Um sorry, but I just wanted to make your acquaintance,” Kanaya replied, relieved to get an answer, though not as much so than if it were a pleasant one.

“I’m busy!” the voice answered, wavering slightly.

“Are you ok?” Kanaya asked, “It sounds like you’re…”

“I SAID LEAVE!”


	2. Fly Pupa

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kanaya finds out more about Rose, goes to her first class and is invited to a party in which an intoxicated Vriska decides to do some...live action role playing, let's say...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is so late, I couldn't get the hang of using skins! Hope you like it though ;)

Kanaya awoke to her alarm at 7am, and was unsurprised to see her roommate snoozing through the blaring noise. Yawning, she wandered out of bed and into the bathroom. She peered into the mirror – God she looked like a mess in the morning, she was almost glad that Vriska wasn’t awake to see since she’d probably make fun of her. After a quick shower, she got changed into a black off-the-shoulder long-sleeved shirt and a short red skirt, she dried her tufty black hair and slipped on some green-tinted lipstick and matching eyeshadow.

By this time it had reached 7:55 and Kanaya was about to leave when she felt a pang of guilt about leaving the sleeping girl in her room without another wake-up call. She wouldn’t want to be allowed to be late on her first day if she were in her position, so why shouldn’t she take an extra minute to help her out? Roommates have to get along, after all, otherwise the next year of her life would be torture.

“Vriska?” she whispered nicely, but the girl didn’t stir.

“Vriska, it’s morning,” she said again, but louder, and shook Vriska’s shoulder a bit.

“Mrghhh?” she drooled, “whaaa…?”

“Vriska it’s almost eight o’clock, I thought I’d wake you up,” Kanaya said cheerfully.

“Almost eight…” Vriska repeated tiredly, “I get up at 8am exactly…”

“But class starts at 8:30,” she replied, confused, “you’ll be late if you don’t hurry!”

“No…I…I’ve got wheels…” she murmured, “I’ll be goooooooo…”

Just like that she was in deep slumber again, and no matter what Kanaya did, she just wouldn’t wake up! Kanaya grew impatient as she watched Terezi leave the dorm first and then Feferi a little while afterwards, but she never saw Rose…curious, she decided to wander up to the dreaded door she had been so rudely shunned away from the night before. Nervously, she knocked on the door and called out “Hello?”

As expected, there was no reply, so she must have left extraordinarily early otherwise she would have heard her leave. Or maybe she was just ignoring her again, who knew?  
Now, she knew it was wrong, and knew that it was none of her business and that this girl was probably bad news, but that didn’t stop Kanaya from grabbing the door handle and slowly twisting it clockwise.

The room was a permanent gloomy shadow with only a line of light creeping in from the bottom of the drawn blinds. It smelled damp yet dry and dusty at the same time, but more so than anything else Kanaya was acutely aware that she was standing in a box rather than a room. She switched on the lights to see purple clothing strewn across the floor, a violin stood upright on a desk which housed many books yet to be organised onto the shelves and the bed lay unmade. She never thought she’d say it, but maybe she had found someone messier than Vriska! Upon closer inspection, she found that many of the books were journals with ideas and storylines etched into them, and most of the others were scientific or theoretical books that Kanaya herself had also read. Sat next to the violin was an open laptop which hadn’t been logged out of, she gazed at the screen which had some kind of chat website displayed on it called PesterChum; the only chat threads were labelled ‘ghostyTrickster’, ‘turntechGodhead’ and ‘gardenGnostic’. How very strange…

“Hey, what you doing Kanaya? Snooping?” a voice yelled loudly.

Kanaya yelped in surprise and spun around to see Vriska wide awake and smiling mischievously. “What! No! I was purely just uh…” she spluttered pathetically.

“Whatever, I’m not going to rat on you,” Vriska said, beckoning Kanaya away from the room. They turned out the lights, shut the door and left the room as it was first found: untouchable.

“I have to say, I never expected you to be the criminal type,” Vriska said with intrigue.

“I’m not a criminal!” Kanaya protested, feeling her face flush with shame.

“Sure you are! That was a clear breach of privacy and a Class A example of ‘douchieness’,” Vriska laughed, “but that’s what makes me like you Kanaya; you’re full of damn surprises.”

Not exactly proud of her actions, Kanaya slunk back into the living area before her eyes caught the clock, “Oh my! It’s…!” she exclaimed in a panic, “Vriska! We’ve only got ten minutes until class! Oh no, I’m going to be late on my first day, my first ever day…how could I have let this happen?!”

“That’s what happens I guess,” Vriska shrugged and then got out a pair of keys and swung them around on her finger, “but I told you I’ve got wheels.”

***

Not two minutes later, Kanaya was screaming and clinging onto Vriska for her life as they sped through the streets of Husscity on a chunky black motorbike. Ignoring the speed limits of each and every road they came across, they reached the Prospit Campus, which was meant to be at least twenty minutes away, just as the bell chimed for 8:30am. 

Kanaya breathed heavily, “goodbye,” she said, her heart still racing from the escapade, “I will see you at…wait, sorry, what class are you going to?”

“Entomology,” Vriska replied, “I’ll pick you up after class has finished!”

And then she ran off, still with some kind of inconceivable energy, to study her spiders and bugs.

The lecture hall was a massive globe which could seat up to 1,000 people and the walls were covered with framed artwork from students who had won awards. Neither wanting to socialise or avoid others in particular, Kanaya took a seat up at the back and decided to try and at least make one friend. However, the only person who sat relatively close to her was a boy with wild messy hair wearing a purple t-shirt and spotty trousers in the seat in front of her. He looked clinically insane. And, just like an insane person, he didn’t take any notes or even look up at the lecturer whose class he had paid thousands to attend, he simply looked down at his crotch for the entire hour.

Wait, actually, he might have been doing something. Oh, she couldn’t see properly, oh well it’s not like it really mattered, he was probably texting. It made Kanaya sad that some poor parents had wasted money on someone so ungrateful.

As the professor was getting to the end of talk, she felt a buzz in her pocket. Oh damn it was her phone, she peered over at the boy ahead who was still staring downwards and felt a sense of irony.

arachnidsGrip (AG) began trolling grimAuxiliatrix (GA)   
AG: Hey Kanaya, you out of class yet?   
AG: Come oooooooon.   
GA: Im Still In Class So I Will Have To Text You Later   
GA: Wait   
GA: How Did You Get My Number   
AG: Hahahaha that’s a serkret :::;)   
AG: 8ut seriously I want to hang out so come on.   
GA: I Will Ask Again Later How You Came Across This Number   
GA: But As For The Question At Hand I Am Sorry But I Cannot Just Leave Class   
AG: 8ut everyone’s going to hang out together.   
AG: I just don’t want you to 8e left out.   
GA: Who Do You Mean When You Say Everyone   
AG: Like everyone from our dorm and the one opposite us.  
AG: Also 80ys!  
GA: Im Sorry But I Am Not Leaving Early To Spend Time With People I Dont Know   
AG: Don’t 8e lame!  
AG: Just come with me it’ll 8e fun.   
AG: And 8esides you know the people from our dorm, right?   
GA: Well I Wouldnt Say I Know Them   
GA: We Briefly Encountered Each Other I Suppose   
AG: Whatever, same thing!  
AG: Anyway you have to come, this is what uni is all a8out isn’t it?  
GA: University Is All About Getting A Degree   
GA: But My Lecture Finishes in Approximately Ten Minutes So If You Can Bear To Wait That Long Then I Will Be Along Shortly   
AG: Ok that’s fine I guess.   
AG: I’ll 8e outside so just hurry up will you?   
arachnidsGrip (AG) ceased trolling grimAuxiliatrix (GA) 

Class finished and Kanaya rushed to get outside, almost tripping over Mr Insane, knowing that Vriska was impatiently waiting for her.

“What took you so long?” tutted Vriska as Kanaya caught her breath.

“I came as quickly as I could,” she puffed. 

“Well it’s not good enough,” she replied spitefully, “but you can work on that later. Right now we’ve got a party to go to!”

“Wait, a party?” Kanaya repeated as Vriska hopped on her motorbike and beckoned her over, “I thought people were just hanging out. I’m not really the type for parties…”

“Just…get the fuck on the bike Kanaya.”

***

Music pulsed from the student dorms which seemed so hostile and silent only a day earlier, Vriska dragged her by her wrist up the stairs towards the source of the blasting sound.

They entered the dorm just opposite their own, number 21, and opened the door to reveal a different world; while the corridor was plain and the music was muffled slightly, inside dorm 21 the music almost knocked Kanaya back and it appeared that someone had gone to the trouble of bringing a multi-coloured lighting and a steam-machine to university with them.

There were about twenty people in the small living area alone, all holding drinks and talking in groups, and Kanaya wondered how so many people could get out of their classes so quickly. She spotted Feferi talking to a boy against a wall but other than that the room was filled with many strangers.

“Let’s go find someone who’s actually cool in this place,” Vriska said and stepped inside.

“I think I’m going to go talk to Feferi,” she replied, “If you don’t mind, I don’t mean to be rude."

“Why do you think I’d care what you do?” she answered, yelling over the noise, “go chill with losers if you want, I’ll see you around.”

Vriska’s habit to needlessly insult others was starting to get on Kanaya’s nerves, but she really didn’t want to get into any arguments so early on in the year so, yet again, she let it slide.

She awkwardly made her way across the party towards Feferi, who spotted her and shouted “Kanaya! Hey!”

“Hello, how are you?” she asked.

“Great! Did you just get back from class?” Feferi asked. “We did, like, twenty minutes ago or something. This is Eridan by the way, he’s in my marine biology class, but actually we’ve known each other since we were babies!”

“How interesting,” Kanaya remarked, “I suppose it’s nice to have someone familiar here to correspond with.”

“Yes, it is,” Feferi smiled, “but it’s not so surprising that he’s here since our parents work together, so naturally he wanted to work with sea-life just like me!”

“Let’s not talk about our parents Fef,” said the boy, using a peculiar accent that Kanaya couldn’t quite identify.

“Oh please, just because mine are more successful,” she said, sticking out her tongue then giggling. Eridan rolled his eyes.

“What do you major in?” he asked, turning to Kanaya.

“Fashion Design,” she replied.

He snorted, “that’s a pretty brainless subject if you ask me.”

“Good thing no one’s asking you then!” Feferi shouted in her defence. “God, you can be such a jerk.”

“Actually it’s a common misconception that Fashion is a simple course due to the unfortunate stereotype attached to it and to the people who major in it,” Kanaya argued. “In fact, it can be very difficult to understand. I shall demonstrate for you: do you know what an argyle pattern is? Or the difference between a pick stitch and an overcast stitch?”

Eridan stood blank-faced in front of the two challenging women, less than willing, or possibly just not able, to formulate a counter-argument.

“Exactly. I believe I have proven my point? And that was just common knowledge,” Kanaya finished. “You have little knowledge of my major, and I of yours. So I think the best idea would be not to jump to the false conclusions fed to you through the mouths of strangers, Eridan.”

After a few seconds, he squirmed and said “jeez ok, sorry I guess. I didn’t mean anything by it really.”

After a few more seconds of squirming he announced that he was going to go get a drink, and never returned.

“I’m sorry about all that,” Feferi sighed, “he’s an idiot and I’m always having to keep him out of trouble, but now we’re here and he’s been given more independence he seems to be getting harder to control…”

“It’s fine,” Kanaya replied. “I’m not easily offended, but I do hope I didn’t ruin all chances of getting to know your friends.”

“If it is then it’s all his fault!” she exclaimed. “Ugh, he’s so difficuttlefish. Oops! Uh, I mean difficult.”

“Ha, that one was funny. Why did you correct such a grand work of creative fish-punning?” asked Kanaya.

“Terezi asked me to stop, she said it was getting on her nerves…” Feferi said with a frown. “Usually I’d be like ‘shell no!’ but she’s my roommate so I guess I have to respect that…”

“So…what was the actual agreement?” Kanaya asked. “There may be some kind of loophole or something.”

“Her exact words were ‘Feferi can you stop talking in fish puns all the goddamn time? It’s starting to get super annoying now’.” She imitated using Terezi’s raspy voice, then she became crestfallen and asked, “are my puns really that annoying?”

“Of course not, I greatly enjoy them!” Kanaya reassured her, “and as for your agreement, she quite clearly said that you can’t verbalise them but what if you were to write them down?”

“Like in a text or something?” Feferi asked excitedly, immediately recovering from her sadness, “so I could text them to you or Terezi or someone and it would be fine? That’s such a great idea, Kanaya! I’ll text all of you! You know what? We should create a group chat for all our friends so I can text you all at the same time! That would be so much fun, don’t you think?”

She spat words at 100mph and Kanaya struggled to understand most of them at such a speed, but managed to get the jist of it and agreed that a group chat would be an excellent way of staying connected. After taking each other’s numbers, Feferi went to go find Eridan who she claimed was most probably crying in a corner somewhere.

***

Kanaya spent approximately half an hour loitering in the noisy atmosphere before hearing a familiar voice cackling among the blur of others:

“FLY PUPA FLY-Y-Y-Y-Y-Y-Y-Y!”

“N-no! V-vriska, uh, please stop!”

She made her way to the corridor, where the source of the voice appeared to be coming from, and saw Vriska running the length of the way while pushing a boy in a wheelchair.

“Vriska what do you think you’re doing?!” she shouted to them.

Vriska turned around and stumbled slightly, “he-e-e-y! Hey Kanaya…what’s up roomie?” she slurred.

“How much have you had to drink?” Kanaya asked, then shook her head and said, “oh it doesn’t matter, stop pushing that poor boy around like a rag doll.”

“Wha…? No, no, he loves it!” she answered and grabbed the boy’s cheeks and pulled them upwards, “see? Smiling.”

“Vriska, stop that this instant,” she said and started to walk towards the pair, “you have had way too much alcohol, you don’t know what you’re saying and I should never have left you alone. Look, he is not enjoying this, are you?”

“Uh, well, not really,” the small boy with the fluffy Mohawk replied quietly.

“Huh…no way!” Vriska protested, “he said he liked role-playing, and that’s what we’re doing right now because we’re friends and I’m helping him.”

“You are frightening him,” Kanaya insisted.

“No he’s living his pathetic little dream!” Vriska shouted angrily and grabbed ahold of the wheelchair handles yet again. Before Kanaya could reach out, she pushed him forcefully towards the flight of stairs at the end of the corridor.

The wheelchair skipped the first five steps down and the front wheels smashed into the ground on the sixth, at which point it was pulled forwards and thrusted the boy out of the seat. The heavy chair flipped over the boy, hitting him hard a few times and yanking him down the stairs some more, before cartwheeling down to the bottom and collapsing in a heap of broken metal and plastic.

“FLY!!!!!!!!”


	3. The Sleeping Boy

A commotion erupted in the hallway as people crowded and peered down at the motionless boy on the stairs.

“Oh my God,” Kanaya whispered as others around her murmured in unheard voices.

At that moment she was shoved against the side of the wall as a girl pushed her way through and made her way to where the crippled boy lay.

“Tavros…” she said hollowly, tipping her red triangular-shaped glasses further up her nose to cover her blind eyes which surely saw the devastating scene.

“Someone call a God damn ambulance,” she shouted in a harsh tone, and then added, “did anyone see what happened?”

There was silence and a few curious looks for a couple of seconds before Vriska Serket, appearing as sober as she was before the party, spoke up from the back of the crowd. “Yeah, I saw all of it”.

Kanaya held her breath as people allowed Vriska to edge her way to the front to meet with Terezi.

“Well?” she growled.

“WELL,” Vriska began, “I was bored of all the noise and idiots shouting at the tops of their voices so I went out into the hallway to chill out for a while. And who should I meet but my old friend Tavros! You remember how we all used to play together when we were kids, right Terezi? I’ve got to say, we were pretty damn adorable, you, me and Tavros. And Aradia too, wherever she ended up.”

“Get to the point,” Terezi glared angrily.

“Ok fine, we’ll catch up later,” she replied, rolling her eyes. “So basically I saw Tavros and he was completely pissed, he was all rolling around doing tricks and stuff, actually being COOL for once. So we started talking and he said that he’d bet me he could roll the length of the hall at such a speed that when he turned around at the end he’d do a 360 degree spin. I thought it was an awesome idea, it wasn’t my fault that it went wrong and he fell down the stairs. What am I, psychic?”

Kanaya stared blankly in disbelief at Vriska’s complex lie, then turned to look at an unimpressed Terezi.

“I don’t believe you,” she said scornfully, “Tavros wouldn’t drink enough to ever do something like that. Hell, he hardly drinks at all. Unless you have any other witnesses, I’m taking your word as bullshit and you’re becoming my prime suspect.”

“Well, Kanaya was there to see Tavros rocket launch himself down the hall,” Vriska replied, cocking her head towards her friend.

“Were you?” Terezi asked doubtfully.

Kanaya froze as everyone turned to her. She felt herself start to go red, or maybe it was more of a jade colour as she struggled not to throw up. She couldn’t lie about such a crime, could she? Tavros was sure to wake up and tell everyone exactly what happened anyway, it would be ridiculous to attempt to cover up for Vriska now, even if she was her roommate. But did she really have the courage to betray Vriska, the one person she was closest to in this whole new environment? But if she didn’t then she’d be hurting so many others! Ugh, why did she have to be placed in such an awkward position?!

“Kanaya,” Terezi prompted impatiently.

“I…uh…I saw something but…” she stammered nervously, trying to impossibly concoct something that could satisfy both parties and herself. “Uh….it was only a bit so….I can’t be sure….”

“What she means to say is that –” Vriska started but Terezi interrupted.

“I asked Kanaya, not you,” she reminded her firmly, “I want to hear it from her.”

Eyes turned back to Kanaya as she fiddled with her skirt anxiously.

“Um…ok…so I saw Tavros in the wheelchair…speeding down the hall, I mean….” she continued, clearing her throat every now and again. “And then he….flew….down the stairs….and that’s all I saw.”

Terezi looked down and frowned, it appeared as if she was contemplating their verdicts and sentences.

“Innocent until proven guilty, Redglare,” Vriska commented slyly, causing a grimace from the blind girl.

Wailing sirens approached the building and broke the tension, paramedics in dark green uniforms rushed in with a stretcher for the injured and Terezi went with him to the hospital until his family could be contacted. The party was left as dead as Tavros was feared to be.

 

***

“What on earth were you thinking?!” Kanaya screamed. She had dragged Vriska out of the student dorms as soon as the ambulance had left and they were now sat on the low wall of a nearby council housing estate. “Why did you do that? And are you even drunk or just planning on using the intoxication as an excuse?”

“I don’t know, I guess I’m a bit tipsy,” she answered, “that chat with Terezi sure sobered me up a lot.”

“Answer me: why would you ever think that what you did was a good idea?!” Kanaya repeated angrily.

Vriska swung her legs and shrugged, “I don’t know, for a laugh. The party was boring and so was he. But I bet he’s having a great adventure in the hospital,” she said.

Kanaya looked on, disgusted, “so…so you have NO excuse for your behaviour?”

“Not one you’d appreciate,” she replied coarsely.

“I would still like to hear it,” she demanded.

“If you want,” Vriska said with amusement, “you heard me back there, right? I talked about me, Terezi and Tavros. Yeah, we all used to know each other when we were kids. We were pretty much best friends, us three and this other girl. We used to play mass-multiplayer online roleplaying games together, and we were the greatest heroes! We beat all of the levels. All of them.”

Vriska smiled at the memory but then her face turned dark.

“But Tavros…he was always the weak link. He would always abscond, never train, he let the whole team down! And I tried so hard, SO hard to toughen him up, but he just wouldn’t change. Can you imagine how frustrating that was? I hadn’t seen him in years, we lost contact, but when I saw him today and we started talking, I realised he STILL hadn’t changed. Even after years, he hasn’t developed his skills a single bit! He’s still a coward, still scared of everything with his shitty self-esteem and I’m sick of it! I was angry and wanted to make him take a risk and….well maybe I did let it go too far, but I just wanted to help him and it’s like he didn’t even care!”

Vriska let out a deep breath and slouched back with relief, obviously glad to get everything off her chest. Her breathing soon regulated and she was left to picking at her nails for a distraction.

“Kanaya,” she whispered, “do you hate me?”

Kanaya thought for a moment, and then quietly said “no.”

“You should,” Vriska said, “you saw what I did, and I pulled you into it like an idiot. I’m sorry.”

“You should be apologising to Tavros,” she replied, staring firmly into Vriska’s eyes, “I know you were angry, and maybe a little drunk. I also think there were some subtle good intentions but they were buried far too deep to count for much. But still, even if one of your motives was to help him, if he didn’t want it then you shouldn’t have forced it upon him.”

“Yeah I know,” Vriska sighed, “what can I say? I know you’re right. Ugh but Terezi’s going to blow her shit about this. Her with her stupid justice.”

“Yeah she won’t be happy with me either since I didn’t exactly reveal the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth,” Kanaya said. “Things will be quite strange around the dorm for a while. But perhaps over time, and after a lot of apologising, you can start to fix things again?”

“I hope so,” she agreed, “I mean, I did start this year hoping to get to at least speaking terms with Terezi."

“Excellent work so far,” Kanaya commented.

“Thanks,” Vriska replied sarcastically.

The sky was cloudy and there was a light breeze about, an empty drinks can rattled as it rolled along the path and hit the wall.  
Kanaya placed a hand on Vriska’s shoulder and smiled at her reassuringly. At first she jumped at the touch, but Vriska soon melted into it and reached over to hold the hand rested on her shoulder.

They sat there for however long, maybe hours, just looking up at the shapes of the clouds, never letting go of each other’s hands.

***

When they returned home they found Feferi in the kitchen who, as soon as she saw the pair, swished her head around and swiftly left the room.

“Feferi,” Kanaya called after her, but her only reply was the slam of a door.

“Forget her,” Vriska said, slumping onto the ugly dark orange sofa.

“But I quite like Feferi,” she muttered dismally. Kanaya peered over at the lethargic girl and felt herself glower, she said again, but louder and sterner, “but I quite like Feferi. And I don’t think it’s fair that my friendships have to suffer due to your mistakes. I believe now would be a good time to start apologising to people.”

“Jeez, give me five minutes to chill out after all that back-in-the-day talk,” Vriska groaned and her muscles relaxed further.

“No,” she urged, “you need to apologise. The sooner the better.”

“To who?” she asked with little effort, “Terezi? Feferi?”

“Both!” Kanaya cried, “And Tavros of course, especially him."

“I should probably apologise to Tavros first, right? I mean, it makes more sense,” Vriska suggested.

“Well, ok I suppose that is justified,” she replied, slightly confused by her friend’s sudden helpful contribution after seeming so aloof.

“Oh no!” Vriska cried out in a sarcastically dramatic voice. “He’s in hospital! Oh, I’ll have to wait until later.”

She spread herself out on the sofa and switched the TV on. Some crummy reality show started blaring as two characters argued about someone’s love affair.

Kanaya snatched the remote out of Vriska’s hand and turned off the garbage flooding out of the screen, “apparently we must go to the hospital to pay him a visit then”, she said sternly.

 

***

After much bugging and fussing and meddling, Vriska was finally dragged into submission and they made their way to the hospital.

It took forever to find Tavros’s ward; “Excuse me, do you know which ward Tavros Nitram is on please?”

“No, we’re not family. We are his friends.”

“Um, I’m not sure. We have never met his family, you see.”

“Just fucking let us in, ok?”

“Vriska!”

“Ughhhhhhhh”

“Sorry, she’s just stressed. We’re all worried about him.”

“Yes, thank you.”

“He’s…in the ICU? Thank you, we’ll go there at once.”

“Hey wait up, what the hell is an iseeyoo?”

“Intensive Care Unit. He must be really hurt, Vriska.”

“God, don’t lecture me again. What do you think I’m doing here for?”

“Ok, yes, fine. I suppose.”

“Don’t give me that look, Kanaya.”

“What look?”

“That one. The disapproving one.”

“It’s hard not to disapprove when we hear that you put a boy in intensive care.”

“Accidentally!”

“We have already established that it was not an accident!”

They stopped suddenly in front of a big white sign which read in bold red writing ‘Intensive Care Unit’.

“So where is he?” Vriska asked.

“I don’t know,” Kanaya replied, “we’ll have to ask somebody.”

She walked up to a nearby help desk and asked the nurse where Tavros Nitram was being kept on the ward, and after a few clicks and taps on her computer the woman replied, “Yes, Tavros, he’s at the end of the left corridor.”

“Thank you,” Kanaya said, but before she could turn to Vriska, the woman stopped her.

“Wait,” she said suddenly, her short blonde hair swishing as she looked up. “Have you seen him before? Do you know of his state?”

“No, this is our first visit,” Kanaya replied uneasily, sensing something was wrong, “is there a problem?”

“Well,” the woman said, and looked around as if checking for spies. She stood up and walked around the desk to take the girls aside and whispered, “I’m sorry to have to tell you this, but unfortunately Tavros is currently in a coma.”

They both took a sharp breath in.

“He took quite a bump to the head,” she said sympathetically, “the good news is that we have estimated that it is unlikely he’ll be in the coma for more than a few months, however there is still a chance that upon waking he will have brain damage.”

“Oh my God,” Vriska breathed.

Kanaya angrily grabbed Vriska’s wrist and pulled her viciously down the left corridor.

“Hey, ow!” she yelped, “what do you think you’re doing?!”

Kanaya glanced back sharply, tears in her eyes, silencing Vriska with a stare.

They arrived at the foot of a sleeping boy’s bed and Kanaya released the wrist in her grip. 

He was pale, wires and tubes splayed out from his thin arms like spider webs and a ghostly mask kissed at his mouth. His brown Mohawk-style hair flopped over his eyes, casting a dull shadow over his face. At that moment, nothing in the world could have convinced those two distraught girls that that boy was not dead.

“I never,” Vriska wavered, looking from Tavros to Kanaya, “you know I never meant this.”

“I know,” Kanaya muttered so quietly her mouth barely formed the words.

They stood still again, not able to pull their eyes off of him.

“When he wakes up,” Kanaya said, breaking the silence with a few quiet words, “he’s going to tell everyone what happened. And we’ll have to take responsibility, like we should have done to begin with.”

Fear painted Vriska’s face, she stared at Tavros as though he might spontaneously animate and start spouting the horrid truth, but after a while she managed to say, “Ok.”

Vriska reached out to touch him, her arm extended only a little before she caught sight of Kanaya who brought her crashing back down to earth. She withdrew her hand with a hint of embarrassment as tears began to form, she tore her face away from her friend.

“I think I’ll go get myself a drink, I could use a cup of tea,” Kanaya said helpfully, knowing that they both knew what she was doing, “I’ll be outside.”

She left promptly. Even though she was still emotional herself, she knew that Vriska needed time to come to terms with and apologise for her actions, and the best way to do that was to give her some privacy.

But she couldn’t quite will herself away from the door as she saw Vriska collapse to her knees at Tavros’s side, as if she had been holding something impossibly heavy for too long.

“I’m sorry, ok?” she sobbed into the bed, clenching the blankets. “I’m sorry, Tavros. I’m so, so sorry.”


	4. Lalonde

The dormitory was left soulless yet again, deadly quiet, as the door creaked open to allow a solitary person inside. Things had been like this for a while now. Vriska was always either at the hospital or moping around dark alleys in town, though Kanaya didn’t like to press for details she would rather not hear. Terezi had seemed to work out some sort of system; she somehow knew when Vriska had left the hospital, at which point she would take her turn to visit Tavros, and as for the other empty hours of the day she stayed clear of the dorm, probably not wanting to scorch her mind with tormenting visualisations of Tavros’s ‘accident’. As for Feferi, well God knows what she did. She appeared to be the most socially adept out of everyone in dorm 22 anyway, whenever Kanaya managed to see her she was always chatting and laughing with other people, but this was a rare sight since she was avoiding Kanaya at all costs.

Kanaya closed the door behind her and sighed loudly into the heavy silence. She kicked off her shoes lazily and made for the sofa, fumbling with the remote to switch it on. Cartoons appeared on the screen, not her first choice of programme but she couldn’t be bothered to change it, and it wasn’t like anyone else was around to judge her for it.

She was just starting to relax when a noise came from the kitchen.

Kanaya immediately perked up and cautiously called out, “is…someone home?”

She thought for a second she heard an annoyed grumble, and then a small figure stepped into view.

The figure was of a girl with short light blonde hair, her purple headband stood out brightly like a crown on her head and her long bangs dared to shadow her big blue eyes. She wore a long-sleeved black dress paired with a pink decorative belt, on the front of the dress appeared to be a picture of what once was an adorable purple cartoon creature but it had been tampered with so that it now looked somewhat menacing.

“Hello,” the girl said with mild toleration, “I don’t believe we’ve properly met.”

“Oh, uh, yes, hello,” she replied timidly at the presence of the stranger, “my name is Kanaya, and I’m pleased to make your acquaintance…?”

She left the sentence hanging as a way of prompting the girl to state her name, but the stranger either didn’t understand or simply chose to dodge the question.

The girl poured herself some orange juice and took a sip amongst the awkwardness that weighed down upon the atmosphere.

“I’m sorry if this may come across as somewhat rude, but…” Kanaya eased out the strained words, “who are you and what are you doing in my dorm?”

The girl widened her eyes for a second but then resumed them to their usual cool indifference. “I’m Rose,” she replied, “I live here.”

“Oh.”

The girl, now ‘Rose’, took another long sip of orange juice.

Kanaya suddenly shook her head and jumped off of the sofa, “I am so sorry, where are my manners? I suppose I’m just surprised since this is the first time we have met and I was just…well, shocked, to be perfectly honest,” she shouted in an over-animated way. Rose carefully put down her glass and began to tiptoe back slightly as Kanaya rushed forwards. “What I mean to say is that it’s just so preposterous that we’ve never spoken, don’t you agree? It has been weeks and I just cannot believe that this is the first time I’ve spoken to, or even SEEN, one of my roommates! I apologise profusely on my part, of course. I hope you haven’t seen me as rude or distant, have you? I didn’t mean to project that image of myself. In fact, I did try to meet you on my first day, do you remember? I knocked on your door but…”

*SMASH*

Rose’s half-empty glass hit the floor and orange liquid splattered onto the cheap tiles. Both stood and stared at it for a second, obviously rather shocked and just trying to make sense of the situation and all the words which had just been fired.

“I’m sorry,” Kanaya said, slower and quieter this time.

“It’s fine, really,” Rose replied and grabbed a few paper towels.

Kanaya walked over to a nearby cupboard and retrieved a dustpan and brush and started to sweep up the broken glass. “I probably really freaked you out just then,” she said meekly as Rose bent down to start mopping up the juice, “sorry, I guess I was nervous or something. I’d never seen or spoken to you before and I suppose I felt quite guilty about the lack of social interaction and so I just attempted to make up for it…again, I apologise for that.”

“It’s perfectly fine,” Rose replied, even laughing a little, which helped Kanaya to relax, “I haven’t been the most sociable person recently, so it’s hardly your fault.”

They tidied up the mess and Kanaya poured her another glass.

“So…why haven’t I seen you until now?” she asked, leaning back on the kitchen counter, “are you just an extremely shy person?”

“No,” Rose replied and chuckled a bit at the notion, “I do like to keep to myself, yes, but the reason I was so secluded was simply because I was homestuck,” the last word came out frazzled as she choked slightly on her drink, she coughed then reiterated with a smile, “I mean home sick.”

“Oh right,” Kanaya said understandingly, “of course, it never occurred to me that not everyone would share my excitement to start university in a brand new city. I’m sorry I was so naïve.”

“Honestly, it’s fine, I should be the one who keeps apologising,” Rose answered, “I was aloof and rude. But I really missed all my friends, and I’d never moved house before, let alone country, so I was pretty intimidated by all the change.”

“Oh, so you’re from abroad?” she replied, “Well then it makes perfect sense as to why you seemed so distant, it’s not your fault at all. You must have been missing your friends and family terribly, were you close?”

“Uh, that’s kind of complicated,” Rose said, “I lived with my Mum so I suppose I was close to her but there was always this space between us. I don’t know, it’s strange, I’ve just always felt like she was meant for something much more important but had been given the burdening task of raising me instead. And my friends, well, I met all of them online so we weren’t physically close but they’ve always been there for me. They’re all going to university back home, and were planning to meet up and see each other all for the first time ever, and now I can’t be a part of that…”

“That is unfortunate,” Kanaya said and rested a hand on Rose’s shoulder, “I can understand now why you would have been so emotional at the start of the year. But still, you should try to make new friends here, not to replace your older ones of course, but just to meet new people and have fun.”

“Yeah, I’m planning to,” she replied, then looked around the room, “but it’s been dead around here for a while now.”

“Yes…that is true,” Kanaya murmured carefully, then asked, “are you aware of the recent events leading to this hostility?”

“Not really, but I’ve heard rumours,” Rose told, “a party, a fight, some kid in hospital?”

“Well, not really a fight per say, more of a combined effort of bad histories, recklessness and booze,” Kanaya explained, “the short of it is that a guy named Tavros, who resides in a wheelchair, fell down a flight of stairs and is now in hospital. One girl that lives here, Terezi, believes that another girl, Vriska, pushed him. Vriska is denying this and so they aren’t speaking to each other. No one is really sure on what actually happened, so everyone is just confused and divided on whether to believe Terezi or Vriska’s story.”

“Sounds like shit really hit the fan,” Rose commented thoughtfully.

“Shit has indeed hit the whirling device,” she replied, “at quite a breathtaking speed, I might add.”

“So is that why it’s been so quiet and hardly anyone is here anymore?” Rose asked, “It seems rather ridiculous to me for them to avoid this place so much.”

“Me too,” Kanaya agreed, “I doubt meteors would rain down or a timeline would cease to exist if they all dared to stay in the same room for longer than a few seconds.”

They both laughed and carried on the conversation, catching up on some well-needed socialising until Kanaya proposed that she met the other members of the dorm, even if they weren’t their usual selves recently.

“Terezi and Feferi may refuse to speak to me, but I see no reason as to why they would be hostile towards you,” she explained, “so you may have to meet them on your own, but I’m sure it will be fine.”

“Why on earth would they refuse to speak to you?”

“It’s not that they have anything against me specifically,” she said, “it’s more that, well, after the Tavros incident I went to talk with and comfort Vriska rather than Terezi. Feferi is on Terezi’s side, if there are even ‘sides’ to this thing. Ugh. It sounds completely stupid when I try to explain it.”

“You’re right, it does sound completely stupid,” Rose smirked, “are you sure you don’t even want to try to talk to them?”

“I think they would rather I didn’t.”

“But I’d feel a lot more confident if you were there with me,” Rose implored, “don’t you think you could attempt to resolve your differences at the same time?”

“Well…I suppose that could be an appropriate arrangement,” Kanaya said unconvincingly, “although things may be a little more awkward.”

Rose stepped closer, “I’d much prefer it if you were there,” she lulled.

 

***

The two of them travelled casually towards campus and then turned into a large park which housed many hedges and beautiful flowers, roses and pansies seemed to be the gardener’s favourites. They followed the yellow gravelly path until they reached the edge of a lake, in which a stunning water feature splashed and danced for its audience. That audience being Feferi and a boy Kanaya recognised from the party a few weeks ago.

“Feferi,” she said as they approached. Feferi gasped and zipped around, she grabbed the boy’s arm instinctively and pathetically attempted to drag him behind her.

“Oh,” Feferi breathed, “it’s just you.”

“Yeah…” she replied, “just us. Are you ok? You seem a little jumpy.”

“No, I’m fine, you just startled me!” she answered quickly, then she narrowed her eyes, “what do you want?”

“Firstly I wanted to settle this bad blood between us,” Kanaya said, “because I don’t think there is any reason for us to be angry at each other.”

Feferi sighed, “Look, I know you didn’t do anything that night. But you went to find Vriska and I had to help Terezi, she was really upset! And she is super suspicious of Vriska.”

“But I’m not Vriska,” she said, “I don’t want either of us to be dragged into their silly feud.”

“Terezi definitely doesn’t think it’s silly,” Feferi said with trepidation, “I was the only one there for her after she got back from the hospital, she just needed a friend and I thought that if I spoke to you she’d see it as, I don’t know, conspiring with the enemy or something.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Kanaya said, almost laughing at the idea, “I don’t want to conspire with anyone, or to fight with you anymore. Don’t you want to go back to being friends?”

“Well yeah, but…”

“I see no reason why we shouldn’t. I do miss you.”

“I miss you too…”

“Then let’s stop fighting like two year olds and go back to being fronds” Kanaya said with a little wink. 

Feferi smiled as her pupils grew bigger. “Yeah, I’d love that!” she said and flung her arms around Kanaya’s neck, who stumbled backwards in surprise.

“I’m so sorry for how mean I’ve been recently,” Feferi said into Kanaya’s short choppy hair, “I did feel really bad about it."

“It’s ok,” Kanaya replied with a smile, “I’m just glad it’s over now.”

Feferi released her and beamed, “yes it is,” she said ultimately, then peered over to Rose and said, “hey wait…I recognise you from somewhere.”

“I’m Rose,” Rose introduced, “your roommate.”

Feferi gasped and bounded over to her. “Oh my glub, so YOU are Rose?” she squealed, “it’s so nice to finally meet you!”

“Uh, yes,” Rose said, slightly intimidated by Feferi’s enthusiasm. “Sorry it’s taken so long for us to actually meet, it’s just that I was trying to get used to such a new place and I was feeling home sick. I know that’s not really any excuse for how rude I have been, but I’m sorry and hope we can start anew?”

“I’d LOVE to start anew, and there’s really no need to apologise,” she grinned, “I totally understand, university can be a stressful time and people deal with it in different ways! I’m Feferi, and I really hope we can be friends.”

“And who’s this?” Kanaya asked, gesturing to the boy a few metres away.

The boy had tufty sandy hair and wore a mustard yellow t-shirt which was several sizes too big with a red and blue checked shirt layered over the top of it. He wore plain silver braces on his slightly crooked teeth, but his most striking feature was his eyes: one eye was a cool blue colour, the other was a fiery amber.

“This is Sollux, a friend I met around campus,” Feferi introduced. “Sollux, come on, say hi!”

“Hey,” the boy greeted, somewhat reluctantly.

“Heterochromia iridum,” Kanaya remarked. Then added for clarification, “your eyes.”

“Oh yeah, I know,” Sollux replied, his braces giving him a slight lisp. “I didn’t just wake up like that today, I’ve kind of had my whole life to check out my weird ass eyes.”

“Sollux!” Feferi hissed, then turned to the girls. “Sorry he’s so grouchy, he doesn’t mean it. He’s a real sweetie once you get to know him!”

“It’s fascinating,” Rose said, staring into Sollux’s eyes. “I’ve never seen it in real life, but I’ve glanced over the subject throughout my studies. Did you know that the most likely explanation for the mutation is ancestral inbreeding?”

“No, but thanks for that charming piece of information and mental imagery,” Sollux replied. “I’ll have to remind myself later to call my parents to make sure my mum isn’t actually my dad's sister.”

Feferi glared for a second, but upon seeing Rose and Kanaya laugh she allowed herself to loosen the reigns a little.

The already quiet park seemed to get quieter, like there was a little bubble immersing the four of them. The lake rippled as water splashed down onto the surface, and a frog jumped into the reeds.

“So what are you two doing here?” Kanaya asked, “It’s a rather odd place for two students to hang out, not that it isn’t beautifully pleasant, of course."

At that, Feferi became shifty and obviously anxious, Sollux was expectedly less blatant but his demeanour changed nevertheless.

“Uh, yeah, about that,” Feferi teetered, “could you try not to tell anyone you saw us together? Alone, I mean…”

“Why ever not?”

“Because some narwhal-fucking retard has separation anxiety, that’s why,” stated Sollux bluntly.

“He’s not that bad!” squealed Feferi in the defence of the mystery narwhal-fucker. “I know he’s being a creepy douche but he’s still my friend…”

“Well he’s made it pretty clear that he wants to be more than just friends,” Sollux grumbled, just loud enough for everyone to hear.

“Sorry, who are we talking about?” Kanaya asked.

“Eridan,” Feferi replied gloomily.

“Eridan…” Kanaya pondered, “now I know I recognise that name…”

“Tall, stupid hipster glasses, even stupider hair, a blue scarf as long as his ego…” Sollux trailed off.

“Oh, of course!” she exclaimed upon recollection. “The boy from the party. I thought you were friends, why are you avoiding him?”

Sollux chuckled subtly in the background at Kanaya’s correct guess from his berating description as Feferi talked over him.

“We are friends, and I’m not avoiding him altogether! Only when I hang out with Sollux…” she began to explain. “They just don’t get along. I’d even go as far as to say they hate each other! It’s so sad…I think they could be really good friends if they just gave it a try.”

“As if I’m ever going to give that pretentious asshole a try,” Sollux spat, “I mean, he downright HARRASSES us, Feferi. Don’t tell me that’s not messed up.”

“I never said it wasn’t!” Feferi cried, “and I thought we agreed to keep this time about US and not about your pointless rivalry with Eridan.”

“Well it’s kind of difficult for this to be solely our time when two of your random friends decide to gatecrash our date!” he argued, to which Feferi shouted back at him.

Their little dispute went on for maybe five minutes before Feferi, panting for breath from her last waterfall of insults, turned to Kanaya and Rose and said, “maybe it is best if we catch up another time…”

“That is completely fine,” Kanaya replied, “we’ve taken up enough of your time anyway. We’ll see you both soon, I hope.”

“Yes!” Feferi smiled, “and it was so nice to meet you, Rose.”

“Pleased to meet you both,” she said in response, giving a polite nod to both of her new acquaintances.

They turned to leave, but just then Feferi stopped them.

“Ooh wait!” she called, pulling out her phone and lurching it out towards them. “Kanaya, I created that group chat thing! It’s just me, Sollux and Terezi in it right now, but I’m sure we’ll have more people soon. Here, let me add you and Rose.”

They exchanged Trollhandles, Rose giving a strange ‘Chumhandle’, and after a few electronic taps they were all connected.

“Thank you, I look forward to the upcoming group chats,” Rose commented.

“I look forward to it too, feel free to add anyone else you like!” Feferi chirped, and then quickly became sullen, “but…maybe don’t add Vriska just yet?"

“Yes, I believe that would be a wise decision,” Kanaya agreed, “just until things have settled down a bit.”

“I hate this stupid fight. We don’t even know what really happened that night!” Feferi sulked, “I guess you’re going to go find and introduce yourself to Terezi now?”

“That is the plan,” Rose confirmed.

“Well I hope you have fun,” she replied, “I think she said she was meeting someone at the train station later today, so if you wanted to find her then that’s probably the best place to look.”

They thanked Feferi for her lead and decided to leave the two of them alone, resulting in a little relieved smile from Sollux. They took to the yellow gravelly path yet again and retraced their way out of the park, they breached the greenery and were met with the loud sounds of the city as cars roared past and lights flashed in nearby shop windows. Rose braced as a cyclist swerved around them naturally at speed. She looked around remotely as if searching for a sign or clue of the whereabouts of the train station in this city she had yet to explore and grow used to. Kanaya slipped her arm into Rose’s, she smiled and Rose stood a little bewildered before allowing herself to be guided in the right direction down the bustling street which seemed to grow slightly more peaceful with each step they took together.


	5. Page of the Sky

The station was loud, but that was expected for a Saturday afternoon. People pushed and rushed past the girls as they looked around but there was no sign of Terezi with or without a newcomer.

“Do you think we should get a ticket onto the platform?” Kanaya suggested doubtfully.

“But to which platform?” Rose replied, sighing.

“Good point…” she said, “I suppose we’ll have to wait.”

“I don’t even know what this girl really looks like,” Rose added sheepishly. “So I can’t exactly search for her either.”

“Are you…joking?” Kanaya asked, but her eyes answered for her. “I mean, I can understand possibly not talking to her, but not even seeing her? Have you not left your room at all the past few weeks?”

“Not really. I’ve only ever seen her at glance before I would turn and head back to my room,” she replied. “I feel terrible about it now.”

“It’s fine,” Kanaya reassured, “she’ll understand, she is actually a very nice person.”

“But I thought you were now hostile towards each other?” Rose said, “pardon me, but that doesn’t sound particularly friendly.”

“Well no,” she replied, “but that is only because someone she cares about got hurt. She’s just frustrated and confused, but I’m sure by now she’d be willing to give our friendship another try, as well as yours.”

At that moment Kanaya heard a distant cackle and an already loud voice appeared to be getting even louder as it drew nearer. She whipped around and scanned the crowd. Sure enough, after a few seconds Terezi came out from behind a wall with her unidentified friend. The girl she was with had long, thick, chocolate brown hair with maroon streaks in it. Her natural-coloured eyeshadow lightly coated her eyelids as her large, dark eyes blinked slowly every once in a while. Strangely, her eyes were warm in colour yet there was something light and cold about them. In contrast with her interesting appearance, the girl’s body language was much more bleak; her arms drooped by her sides and she had a permanent thin line across her face, she floated just a little behind Terezi like a shadow and every so often she seemed to peer into the distance and enter her own little world.

As they approached, Terezi caught sight of them and froze up. She was about to grab the girl’s arm and tear her off in the other direction but Kanaya managed to catch up to them and engage in conversation, thus blocking the obvious escape route.

“Terezi,” Kanaya greeted, “hello, how have you been?”

“Good, I guess,” Terezi grumbled, then she looked up at Rose and asked, “Who’s your friend?”

“This is Rose,” she said, and then to reiterate, “Rose our mutual roommate.”

“Oh right,” Terezi replied, looking Rose up and down, “decided to finally come out of hiding, did you?”

Rose chuckled nervously and out of politeness, she answered, “yes, I’m sorry it has taken so long for us to meet. It’s just that I had a tough first week, I was feeling quite home sick, and I…”

“Ok, yeah, I didn’t ask for your life story,” she interrupted.

“Terezi, may I ask what on earth is wrong with you?” Kanaya hissed, “I know you may have reason to dislike me at the present time, regardless of how ridiculous the reason is, but there really is no excuse for being so rude to someone you have only just met.”

“You want to know what’s wrong with me, Kanaya?” Terezi challenged, “how about the fact that your bitchy buddy put my friend in a coma and suddenly you feel like you can talk to me, that’s what’s fucking wrong with me.”

“You don’t know that!” she replied quickly, “the music was loud, alcohol was readily available to those who would take it. The whole experience was just a terrible mess in my opinion. It is not at all surprising an accident occurred and no one clearly saw what happened.”

“So are you saying Tavros’s fall was brought upon by himself?”

“No!”

“Well that’s what it sounds like!”

“Ugh, you are being impossible!” Kanaya groaned, “What happened to needing evidence? What happened to innocent until proven guilty?”

“I’m still allowed to have suspects,” Terezi replied, “even though I KNOW she did it!”

“And how exactly do you know that?” Kanaya pestered.

“Because she’s done it before!”

Silence.

Rose was watching carefully, probably analysing the situation to the bone, while Terezi’s friend stared into the abyss of the train timetable.

“What do you mean she’s done it before?” Kanaya asked.

Terezi pulled at her hair and started to turn away, “I’ve said enough anyway.”

Kanaya reached out and pulled her back, “What do you mean she’s done this before?”

“I told you I’ve said enough,” she replied, tearing her arm away, “I shouldn’t have said anything, it’s a private matter, ok?”

“Ok but Vriska’s my friend,” she said, “don’t I have a right to know if she’s…if she’s dangerous?”

Terezi sighed, and looking uncomfortable she said, “Look, Kanaya, I don’t hate you. But I do hate Vriska. And I can’t risk some of this information getting to her, so just leave it.”

“What you tell me can be completely confidential, if that is what you wish,” Kanaya suggested, “but don’t you think we should try to take down this barrier between us? I believe that the best way to do that would be by talking, and even better if the topic is the subject of malevolence.”

“I guess…” she shrugged, then quickly scowled, “but if I do this, if we become friends again, you have to promise me you won’t share any of the information I tell you with Vriska.”

“Of course, you have my word,” she replied.

“I want more than your word, I want your signature,” Terezi said with a sly grin, “I’ll draw up a legal contract for you to sign. Unless there are any problems with that?”

“Certainly not,” Kanaya replied, unphased by what most would describe as an overreaction into formalities, “I look forward to reading the small print.”

“I’ll make sure it’s a good read for you,” Terezi teased.

 

***

Terezi wasn’t messing around when she said she was going to make a legal contract. They spent three hours in the nearby public library while Terezi tapped out the agreement and then printed it out to be signed. She also didn’t understate her willingness to make the small print a good read, as it was in size 5 font (meaning a magnifying glass was necessary) and it read ‘the signer also agrees to the terms that after every departure from conversation, he/she is legally bound to announce “praise His Honourable Tyranny!” from henceforth until the contract is terminated’.

Luckily, Kanaya managed to locate, read and convince Terezi to erase that part of the contract before signing it.

Afterwards, they decided to retire to a café down the road to relax and talk now that all legal tomfoolery had been taken care of.

“This is Aradia,” Terezi introduced her friend, “she doesn’t go here, so this is kind of a big deal.”

“Oh, well I’m sorry if we’re intruding on your day out” Kanaya replied guiltily, “I only really wanted to clear the air with you and to introduce Rose. We can do this another time, if you would prefer.”

“No it’s fine,” she said, “it might even be better to have more people.”

“Better?” Kanaya said, “Do you mean to say that we are in some way assisting you?”

“I do mean to say that, yes,” Terezi confirmed, “I mean, Aradia didn’t just come all the way here for a casual get-together. She’s here to discuss a very important matter! That matter being Vriska.”

“Oh,” Kanaya said, “then…I’m not certain this is a good idea. Vriska is my friend, and to be in cahoots with those she is quarrelling with may be considered dangerous ground…”

“You’re not in cahoots with anybody, you’ve been telling me you aren’t on anyone’s ‘side’ for weeks now,” Terezi scrunched up her face in distrust, “unless you are actually on Vriska’s side?”

“Of course not. I’m a neutral third party,” she replied, “but I am simply saying that if I were to actively involve myself in any schemes against her, that would not be an intelligent move.”

“Well duh,” Terezi said, “I’m not going to ask you to do anything, just listen to the facts of the situation.”

Uneasily, Kanaya agreed to merely observe and listen, then they all turned to the ever-silent Aradia who started to speak at last.

“Vriska is a very dangerous individual. I have known her since we were young: she, Terezi, Tavros and I were all childhood friends. We used to play role-playing games together, the common sort of childish amusement.” Aradia said in a monotonous way, her words buzzing out of her mouth in a long line of barely distinguishable sounds, “But Vriska took things too far. One day she got frustrated and attacked Tavros. She permanently damaged his legs so that he would need a wheelchair for the rest of his life. As for Terezi, that was the night she was blinded. And me…I was…”

She broke off. Could it really have been due to emotion? It seemed impossible after her prolonged reticence. But it didn’t really matter. Kanaya was too frozen with shock to register any subtle details in the strange girl’s voice or demeanour, she solely concentrated on what she was told Vriska did.

“But she…” she uttered, “she couldn’t have…”

“She was a minor, so got off with a lighter sentence,” Terezi explained, “but she still got a twelve month Detention and Training Order.”

“I don’t believe this…” Kanaya whispered, seemingly to herself, “how could she have…to Tavros. And to YOU?”

Terezi shrugged. “I don’t forgive her or anything, but I also don't like to hold grudges,” she said dismissively, “once justice has been served then I'm willing to stop probing for revenge. But Tavros hasn't been delivered justice yet, and so I'm back on Vriska’s trail.”

“I still just can’t…” Kanaya said as Rose wrapped her arms around her in comfort.

“I have legal proof if you want to see it,” Terezi said, digging into her bag and pulling out a stuffed, but well-organised, folder of papers.

However, after scanning and shifting through the legal jargon, it brought Kanaya no reassurance. Had she really befriended such a dangerous, psychotic criminal? Apparently so.

“Aradia is here to confront her with me,” Terezi explained defiantly, “we think that when she sees us all together, all the people she’s hurt, she’ll freak out and maybe get a reality check. She needs to be stopped, Kanaya, don’t you understand? We can’t let her get to anyone else, and that means you too. She’s already done it again, I just can’t believe she’d go after Tavros for a second time. The poor guy, he really doesn’t fucking deserve it.You do get what I’m saying, don't you?”

“I just…”

“Stay away from her.” Aradia contributed, “for your own good.”

“Yeah,” Terezi agreed, “unless you want to lose a goddamn function like the rest of us.”

Suddenly three phones out of four buzzed or chimed. Everyone but Aradia reached into their pockets to retrieve their phones, only to find that they had all been notified of Feferi’s message on the group chat.

cuttlefishCuller [CC] opened memo on board FRONDS4LIF----E!!!  
CC: )(-EY GUYS 38)  
CC: Just testing out t)(e new group c)(at isn’t it GR--EAT  
gallowsCalibrator [GC] responded to memo  
GC: FRONDS4L1F3  
GC: 4R3 YOU S3R1OUSLY K1DD1NG M3  
CC: )(ey now you said I couldn’t SAY any more fis)( puns  
CC: Not)(ing was agreed aboat WRITING t)(em  
CC: Glub glub )(-E-E )(-E-E!  
GC: 1 UND3RST4ND OUR AGR33M3NT P3RF3CTLY P31X3S  
GC: 1TS JUST 4N 3XCRUC14T1NGLY 3MB4RR4SS1NG N4M3  
CC: ACTUALLY IT’S A R-E-ELY GLUBBING FINTASTIC NAM-E T)(ANK YOU V-ERY MUC)(!!!  
GC: H3H3H3 SUR3  
GC: BUT TO B3 HON3ST TH1S 1S 4 PR3TTY COOL 1D34  
CC: W)(y t)(ank you, I knew it would be!  
CC: But u)(, w)(ere’s everybody else?  
GC: HOLD ON K4N4Y4’S H3R3 L3T M3 G3T H3R  
grimAuxiliatrix [GA] responded to memo  
GA: What Yes I Am Here  
GC: STOP ZON1NG OUT 4LR34DY  
GA: I Was Not Doing Zoning Of Any Kind  
GA: And I Am Definitely Not Currently In Shock  
GC: FOR FUCKS S4K3 K4N4Y4 CH1LL OUT  
CC: W)(at’s wrong? 38(  
GA: Um  
GC: BOTH OF YOU C4N F33L FR33 TO SHUT UP 4T 4NY T1M3  
CC: YOU AR-E T)(-E ON-E T)(AT CAN CLAM UP  
CC: But seariously w)(at’s )(appened?  
GC: SH3 KNOWS 4BOUT VR1SK4  
GC: 1 L1T3R4LLY JUST TOLD H3R  
CC: O)()()( ok  
GA: Wait Why Is Feferi Aware Of The Vriska Thing  
GC: SH3S MY ROOM4T3  
GC: SH1T H4PP3NS  
GA: I Suppose  
CC: W)(ale...I guess I’m sorry for you  
GA: Why Would You Feel Sorry  
CC: U)( DU)( because you just found out your only frond is a PSYC)(O!!!  
GA: Right  
GA: Thanks  
CC: Aw don’t worry we’re )(ere for you now!  
CC: We won’t let you get GOBBL-ED UP by the mean dolomedes!  
GA: I Appreciate The Effort But  
GA: I Think She May Have Changed  
GC: >:O  
CC: 38O  
CC: AR-E YOU MAD?  
GC: YOU S4W WH4T SH3 D1D TO T4VROS!!  
GA: No I Did Not  
GA: And Even If We Suppose In A Hypothetical Sense That She Did Have Something To Do With It  
GA: She Visits Him In Hospital Every Day So Surely That Means Something  
GA: So Would You Not Determine That She Regrets Her Actions   
GC: NO 1 WOULD NOT  
GC: 4T 4LL  
GC: SH3S PL4Y1NG YOU FOR 4 FOOL  
GA: She Has Opened Up To Me Before And I Trust Her  
GC: 1D R4TH3R H4NG MYS3LF TH4N TRUST H3R  
GA: Well You Do Not Know Her Like I Do  
GC: TH4TS R1GHT  
GC: 1 DONT >:[  
CC: W)(oa w)(oa ok clam down everyone  
tentacleTherapist [TT] responded to memo  
TT: I agree with the fish girl  
TT: This all seems rather ridiculous to say the least  
GC: 4ND HOW 3XACTLY 1S GR13VOUS BOD1LY H4RM 4 R1D1CULOUS SUBJ3CT??  
TT: It’s the way you’re going about it that’s ridiculous  
TT: I don’t mean to offend but I don’t see how petty squabbles can be of any help  
CC: Y-ES rose is RIG)(T  
CC: Lets cut the carp and get searious )(ere!  
CC: Can we all just agree to keep an eye out for trobubble and watc)( eac)( otters backs from now on?  
GC: F1N3, 1LL LOOK OUT FOR TROUBL3 4LR1GHT  
GC: S1NC3 TH4TS TH3 ONLY TH1NG VR1SK4 1S C4P4BL3 OF  
CC: Terezi remember TOL-ERANC-E  
GC: Y34H Y34H  
CC: Cod...I )(ope I don’t )(ave to start mediating between you two all the time!  
GA: You Wont  
GA: Thank You For The Offer But I Do Not Intend To Make Quarrels A Common Occurrence  
CC: Good!

Suddenly Terezi’s phone started to ring, breaking her away from the chat.

“Hello?” she said to the unknown number. Then her mouth dropped, and she walked out of the room. Rose, Kanaya and Aradia were politely silent, but a few whispers echoed around without answers. When she returned, her face was deathly white and teal tears dribbled in her eyes, she lowered the phone limply to her side as the girls guided her into a seat, asking and asking what could be wrong?

Terezi looked up at Kanaya and then held Aradia’s gaze. With a shaky voice she said, “Tavros died this morning, Aradia…Tavros…” and then she collapsed, hunched over she sobbed into her hands. Kanaya and Rose tried to comfort her, still shocked themselves, while Aradia stared back into the empty void, probably reliving treasured old memories in her head.


	6. The Sad, the Sorry and the Stalking

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A memorial service is held for the late Tavros Nitram. Old rumours are supported by recent changes in behaviour and one boy is carptivated with a girl who is taken.

The world was sullen and cold for the next few days, as if some breath had been stolen from the very universe itself. No one really talked much, but when they did, they talked of Tavros. But no one ever wanted to talk about the recently deceased boy, and so silence often resumed itself swiftly.

Bouquets and bundles of flowers had gathered at the gate of the dormitories where Tavros had taken his fatal fall, but none so more than outside a nearby meagre little house where Kanaya presumed the departed had lived. It made sense after all, it wasn’t like the undergraduate dorms were wheelchair-accessible. She wondered if he lived alone. She wondered if he had been lonely. She pushed the squirming thoughts out of her head.

The left lace off-the-shoulder sleeve slipped down, she pushed it up slightly, cocking her head in the mirror. It was a pretty little dress: the neckline was a wide V outlined by the same black lace as the sleeves, then underneath the black material began as a sweetheart and finished at about mid-thigh length, the lace over-layer draped over the edge a little while further. It was definitely a pretty little dress. But she didn’t feel pretty today. No, she felt…tarnished. Secrets bubbled in her head, burning to seep out of her ears and eyes and mouth, but she couldn’t allow them to. Terezi, Aradia, her own self, far too many people were already tied up in this silken filth spun by the same monster, it would be too dangerous to even attempt to unwind it.

They left one by one, no one uttering a word to each other; Terezi, Vriska, Feferi, Rose and Kanaya.

They walked single-file to the one patch of grass on campus which was overcrowded with people dressed in black. A woman, probably the mother, started spouting stories of the boy’s recently concluded life, how he used to run like he was about to launch off into the air.

It wasn’t a funeral, though it was morbid enough to be mistaken for one. The university decided to hold a memorial service for the newly introduced and lost member of their community, the highlight being a wooden bench dedicated to him, but there was a problem with the order and so it was pathetically late for its own unveiling.

Tavros Nitram. It was the name that would surely be whispered around the halls of the school for at least a week before some other gossip took its place. “Fell down the stairs, they say”, “went into a coma”, “lasted a couple of weeks, I think”, “then suddenly”, “just as they thought he was getting better”, “he had a heart attack”, “terrible”, “they thought he’d wake up in just a few days”, “tragic”. Yes, it was tragic. Unbelievably so.

It was hard to tell who took the news harder, Terezi or Vriska. Terezi had recently become more silently short-tempered, for example every now and again she would kick a wall because it simply existed and refused to animate itself and move out of her path, she acted as if she had personally allowed a great injustice to take place in the world and so took out her frustration on defenceless furniture and the likes. Vriska on the other hand had been unnervingly quiet and out of character since being told the boy she hospitalised had died, which made perfect sense considering his blood was technically on her hands. Not that anyone could prove it, of course. Vriska shook as she watched the ground she stood on like a hawk while she wrung her hands together, pulling on each finger a little like levers, probably hoping that each pull rewound time a little more. But Vriska was not a heroic figure with the insane power to control time, if anything she was the villain with a hell of a lot of luck.

“Reminds you of Lady Macbeth, does it not?” Rose said.

Kanaya jumped up in surprise, then screeched in a trying-to-appear-calm whisper, “Whatever do you mean?”

Rose nodded towards Vriska who was still wringing her hands and taking no notice of the world around her, “her behaviour. She’s acting like the typical guilty criminal.”

“Do you honestly believe her to be guilty?” Kanaya replied, a sharpness in her voice, “I must remind you that you have only recently walked in on this scene of events, and so perhaps it would be wise not to come to such rash conclusions.”

“Oh, don’t worry,” she answered with a wry smile, “I have no intention of getting involved. As interesting as these incidents are, the risks of connections to criminality probably outweigh the benefits of pure curiosity. I just enjoy analysing, and so that’s what I intend to do safely at the sidelines.”

Kanaya rose an eyebrow at her unconvincingly before turning back to the weeping mother.

“But I have to ask,” Rose said in a hushed voice, “whose side are you on?”

“I am not on a ‘side’,” she replied, whipping back around, “you have heard me say this before. What is wrong with you today? All these questions, all these accusations, even Terezi has given the cross-examination a rest for today, why can’t you?”

“This isn’t a cross-examination Kanaya,” Rose said, “I told you: I just enjoy analysing.”

“Yes, well now isn’t an appropriate time,” Kanaya replied and then turned her eyes back to the speaker.

Apparently coming to her senses, Rose gave a slight nod and remained silent for the rest of the service. Honestly, what was she thinking? They were in the middle of a memorial service for a boy who, and pardon her language, FUCKING DIED. Rose had seemed so kind and respectful only a short time ago, and Kanaya felt a shred of shame for possibly misinterpreting this girl.

After the event ended and the speech announcing the significant bench was awkwardly glazed over, some members of staff set up a table with a few arbitrary drinks and nibbles.

Although desperate to go home, shut her bedroom door and try to forget about the whole depressing day, Kanaya wandered over to the table out of social courtesy. Her hand had just rested in a bowl of peanuts when another hand lay on top of hers, and suddenly the unidentified hand dug its nails into her flesh in surprise before flying away as if it had been electrocuted.

A girl screamed as Kanaya clutched her own bleeding hand in pain. Yes, blood had actually been drawn.

“I am so sorry!” a girl cried, grabbing napkins and thrusting them towards Kanaya, “I can get pretty jumpy sometimes and my claws are sharp, I didn’t mean to hurt you!”

“...Claws?” Kanaya puffed, recoiling slightly from the girl. This small girl had light brown tufty hair and big olive green eyes, a few light freckles danced on her puffy cheeks and she, like everyone else, was dressed in traditional black. Her cute strappy dress frolicked above her knees and she wore some charmingly unique tights which had little white cat faces on, her shiny black clutch matched these well with a small golden cat-faced clasp.

“Oh, I mean nails,” she corrected with a smile. “I call them claws out of habit…”

“What kind of habit is that?” she asked, mopping up the last leaks of the cuts, “and why are your nails this unnecessarily sharp?!”

“I do a lot of role-playing is all,” she chirped.

“As clawed animals?”

“Cats!” she squealed, “They’re just so cute and adorable and fluffy. Well, the hairless breeds aren’t fluffy, but they’re still cute and adorable! Do you like cats?”

“I don’t particularly dislike them.” Kanaya replied.

“So you’re a cat person?” the girl went on, “that’s great! Maybe we can be friends?”

“I wouldn’t describe myself as a cat person, but I see no reason why we can’t be friends anyway,” she answered, “I hope my lack of felinity isn’t a problem.”

“It would have been better if you loved cats…” the girl muttered sadly, “but it doesn’t matter that much! My name’s Nepeta, what’s yours?”

“I am Kanaya,” she returned, “It’s nice to meet you. How did you…uh, how did you know Tavros?”

Nepeta frowned, remembering where she was and the sad events that had transpired. “He was a guy on my course. We both majored in veterinary, and he looked like a nice guy so I thought I should probably come pay my respects…”

“I didn’t know he did veterinary. It’s interesting,” Kanaya replied, “although now that I think about it, the course suited him. Then again, I didn’t really know him, or even talk to him, I’m just friends with some of his old friends and met him at a party.”

“Do you mean THE party?” Nepeta asked, eyes wide with surprise and attentiveness.

“The one at which he suffered his accident…yes.” Kanaya confirmed uneasily.

“I’ve heard a lot of things about that day, there are loads of rumours,” Nepeta said, leaning against the table slightly and taking a sip of a can of drink she had casually picked up. “The main one is about this Vriska girl though. I don’t know her, but apparently she pushed him.”

“I think it’s ill-advised to listen to silly rumours,” she commented, suddenly very aware of how many people were now crowding around the table with them, timidly reaching for snacks.

“Perhaps, but it can be fun too.” She replied then checked her phone and pursed her lips, “oh, I have to go now. But maybe I’ll see you around! I hope I do, anyway. Bye Kanaya.”

The girl started walking away but it soon turned into a little skip as she bounced off towards one of the school buildings. Kanaya shrugged and decided that she had loitered long enough amongst the strange and the glum, so started to head back home.

 

***

 

For the first time in weeks, Kanaya felt intense relief as she sauntered back into the dormitories of death and closed the door behind her. She kicked some of Vriska’s D20’s and magic 8-balls out of the way (why did she even have so many of these things?) and fell sleepily onto her bed. She was finally alone. For approximately thirty seconds.

Rustles and bumps started at the front door and made their way through the accommodation. Whoever had just walked in must have been extremely clumsy and heavy-footed. Was it a drunk Vriska? Kanaya buried her face into her duvet as she expected that to be the most likely explanation. Apparently it was simply impossible for Kanaya Maryam to exist in the same reality as peace and calmness. She tried to ignore the clatters and bangs as drawers were opened and slammed shut in the room next to hers, but after five or so minutes the constant racket had become infuriating and she was forced to get up and deal with it. As soon as she thumped her foot angrily on the ground upon standing up, the sounds from the other room stopped, but by now she was too annoyed to allow mercy and give them the benefit of the doubt so she continued stomping out of her room and violently let herself into the next.

“Can you PLEASE stop…” but it was her who stopped, mouth still gaping open, as she stared at not a drunk Vriska, or even a one of her roommates at all, but at Eridan Ampora. He returned her shocked gaze, his cheeks quickly turning red as his lips quivered in surprise and embarrassment. Wait, was that…?

“Is that…” Kanaya trembled, “is that one of Feferi’s…”

Eridan thrusted the pair of panties back into the drawer and shoved it closed. He wiped his hands on his trouser leg, as if trying to get rid of some invisible evidence and started blubbering excuses, “I…I w-was just looking for, uh…something she…she borrowed…uh, yeah, and I thought it would be…” he stammered awkwardly, but Kanaya was growing more impatient and livid with every second he delayed.

“You impudent disgusting little man!” she shouted in offence and anger, “this is the most brazen and repulsive act of stalking I have ever witnessed! You absolute pervert! Get out! Feferi had told me of your unwelcome advances but to think that she had been putting up with this kind of harassment….Oh just wait until I tell her!”

“W-wait!” he shook and outstretched an arm as she marched out of the room, “it’s not what it looks like! I swear! Just hold on for a fucking second, ok?!”

He grabbed her shoulder and tore her around. “How dare you lay a hand on me!” she growled, yanking his hand away.

“God damn it, wait a second and let me explain, will you?” he yelled worriedly, “I wasn’t going through her drawers for…for that reason. I know it looks that way but I wasn’t, what kind of creep do you take me for?”

“The kind of creep who stalks a girl like she’s his property, even though she is in fact in a relationship,” Kanaya retorted.

“Oh…so she does have a boyfriend,” Eridan replied somewhat dully, “right.”

He stroked the back of his neck shamefully and dug at the ground with his shoe, “I guess I’ll go then.”

Unluckily, however, at that moment others started to return from the memorial service. Namingly, Feferi Peixes. She looked beautiful in her black waterfall-style dress which was short at the front but trailed to her feet at the back. She had paired a number of cute silver accessories such as necklaces, bracelets and earrings with the dress which had all been placed on her delicate skin with obvious care. But what she said next was neither delicate nor carful, she only bluntly cried “are you fucking kidding me?”

She threw her probably expensive purse onto the kitchen side and walked over to the two, a powerful ‘clip’ or ‘clop’ with every step she took in her four-inch silver strappy heels.

“What the hell are you doing here?” she demanded, pointing a finger aggressively at Eridan, “I told you to get out of my life, and that means my house too.”

“Hey why are you assuming I’m here for you?” he huffed, “I could be visiting my good friend, uh…was it Kayak? Oh who gives a shit. Whatever, the point is that you’re jumping to conclusions, Fef.”

“Oh really?” Feferi replied, “I sure believe that. Do you know what this guy was doing hanging around here, Kanaya? Since he’s so sure of his own innocence, I’m sure he won’t mind me asking for a second opinion.”

“I found him rummaging through your drawers and belongings,” Kanaya explained. She glanced once at Eridan who was already shaking his head slightly at her, begging for some chance of forgiveness, then she looked back at Feferi and mercilessly said, “Your undergarments, to be specific.”

“My…” Feferi’s face went as fuchsia as her half of her bedroom, then all of a sudden her hand whipped up and slapped across Eridan’s face. There was silence, just the sound of palm hitting cheek rang out into the air, as if the whole city was expressing its respect for this brilliant moment through utterly silent reverence.

Eridan’s eyes wobbled, as did his lips, but no words came out. He rubbed his stung cheek gently before looking down and quickly retreating out of the room.

Feferi was breathing heavily, she too gently stroked her stinging hand, but her hand felt shakily powerful after her most recent of impressive actions.

“That was…quite incredible,” Kanaya said, staring at Feferi in a new light. She supposed she wasn’t just some over-excited, aquatic-obsessed, girly-girl after all. Feferi could be quite formidable when she wanted to be, as unmistakably proven today.

“I’ve got to say,” she said, smiling up at Kanaya in a relieved, yet devilish, way, “that felt good.”


	7. A Dark Night

Not long after the vast slap, as it had come to be known, Rose arrived back at the dorm and the three of them spent the evening chatting and watching T.V. It was strange, after such a morbid morning that afternoon was possibly one of the most enjoyable Kanaya had experienced since coming to Husscity. Simply sitting around, watching some terrible reality T.V shows, opening a packet of crisps and just chatting and laughing. No seriousness, no bad blood, it was light-hearted, relaxed and easy.

“You know, we should go out somewhere,” Feferi said, stifling a laugh after Rose choked on a crisp, “I’m getting tired of these same old boring walls. Let’s go outside!”

“But it’s six o’clock, all the shops are closed and it’s getting dark,” Rose said, her voice strained after coughing.

“Well yeah, haven’t you ever heard of this thing called ‘nightlife’?” Feferi smiled, “come on, I’ve been to a few clubs around here with some others. I could even invite them too if you want?”

“Wait, do you mean night clubs?” Kanaya asked as Feferi got out her phone and started texting excitedly, “as in, dancing and alcoholic beverages and people…rubbing...”

“It’ll be fun!” Feferi said, pressing the send button and listening to her friends’ phones start to buzz, “trust me, you’ll love it once you try it!”

cuttlefishCuller [CC] opened memo on board FRONDS4LIF----E!!!  
CC: W)(O WANTS TO GO GLUBBING?!!!!  
gallowsCalibrator [GC] responded to memo  
GC: SORRY 1 C4NT  
GC: 4R4D14 1S L34V1NG 1N TH3 MORN1NG SO 1 W4NT TO ST4Y W1TH H3R  
apocalpyseArisen [AA] responded to memo  
AA: its fine if y0u want t0 g0  
AA: im 0k with it  
CC: S-EA??? S)(e doesn’t mind!  
CC: In fact, w)(y don’t you come too Aradia? It will be so muc)( FIN!  
AA: i guess i c0uld g0  
AA: if terezi wanted me t0  
CC: Terezi do you want it? PL-EAS-E say Y-ES!  
GC: 1 DONT KNOW  
GC: 1 M34N 1 DONT W4NT TO M4K3 YOU GO 1F YOU DONT W4NT TO  
AA: im 0k with whatever y0u want  
AA: really  
GC: HMM W3LL 1 GU3SS 1T M1GHT B3 N1C3 TO S33 YOU OFF W1TH 4 B4NG >:]  
CC: Y-------ES! So you’re coming?  
GC: 1 TH1NK SO Y34H  
CC: Fintastic! Now we )(ave a good group of five.  
GC: WHO 3LS3 1S COM1NG  
CC: Kanaya and Rose!  
GC: 4H4H4H4H4 THOS3 TWO CLUBB1NG??  
GC: YOU H4V3 TO B3 K1DD1NG M3  
CC: It’s TRU-E so stop LAUG)(ING!!!!  
CC: Otterwise t)(ey might c)(ange t)(eir minds 38(  
grimAuxiliatrix [GA] responded to memo  
GA: I Do Not Recall Ever Actually Agreeing To Attend  
tentacleTherapist [TT] responded to memo  
TT: I don’t remember answering your invitation either. So I am sorry to disappoint but it is currently impossible to change our minds since we are still considering our options.  
TT: However, please feel free to attempt to sway and convince.  
CC: O)( come on.  
CC: You practically agreed the minuta I told you!  
GA: No We Really Did Not  
CC: PL-EAS------E  
CC: Don’t you want to try somefin new and -EXCITING?  
GA: As Open As I Am To Any New Experiences  
GA: I Really Think Clubbing Would Be A Mistake  
CC: You don’t minnow until you try it Kanaya!  
GA: I Have Read About It And Seriously Doubt Its Appeal  
CC: Reading aboat it isn’t t)(e same as precipitating in it 38P  
TT: Clubbing does seem to be a lively amusement.  
TT: One that includes alcohol, sexual dancing and blaring music.  
CC: Um yea)( basically.  
CC: But t)(ere’s more to it t)(an just t)(at!  
TT: I have no interest in any of these activities, so why would I pursue something that brings them all together into one ball of overbearing, tenacious unpleasantness?  
CC: W)(ale you cod try to be a little more open minded!  
CC: Just go wit)( us t)(is one time.  
CC: Pretend it’s some social experiment or somefin I don’t CAR-E  
TT: Good point. It would at least be interesting to experience, even if we conclude that we should not like to go again.  
GA: Well Yes  
GA: I Suppose That Is A Valid Point To Make  
GA: There Is Not Much Harm In Examining It One Time  
CC: So does t)(at mean you will come out wit)( us?  
TT: I believe that is what we have decided, yes.  
CC: YAY 38D  
CC: Ok we’ll leave t)(e dorm at eig)(t! Sea you all outside t)(e accommodation block soon!  
cuttlefishCuller [CC] closed memo

Feferi jumped to her feet and then pulled up the two girls on the sofa.

“Come on, we’ve only got two hours to look awesome!” she squealed.

“Two hours is an absolutely preposterous amount of time,” Rose commented, “I think I might go finish a few more chapters of the book I’m currently reading. I’ll change clothes at around seven thirty.”

She started to turn but Feferi grabbed her arm and pulled her back. “No way!” she cried, shaking and bouncing Rose’s arm up and down, “we barely have enough time to get dressed! Here’s the plan; Kanaya showers in her en suite and Rose goes in the shared bathroom, I’ll go last because I take the longest. Whilst the other people are in the shower, choose your clothes. Remember heels are a must and wear either a skirt or dress. Also, whatever you wear has to be short, it’s like the golden rule of nightclubs! Then we’ll all do our hair and make up, oh glub I hope we have enough time. Ok Kanaya you’re in the shower first so go, go, go!”

Kanaya was shoved into the bathroom before she could even process what had been said. Was it shower then clothes then make up or shower, hair, clothes? It was impossible to be sure.

The rush of Feferi’s voice encouraged Kanaya to be fast in the shower, and she finished in just less than ten minutes.

When she emerged from the bathroom she was met once again by Feferi who tugged her out of the doorway. “Great! You showered in good time, but Rose still beat you!” she said whilst pulling Kanaya out into the bedroom before shutting the bathroom door behind herself, “my turn!”

Kanaya was flung out of her way and landed, stumbling and trying to regain balance, against Vriska’s bed. She adjusted her towel sheepishly as she heard the shower turn on and Feferi start to hum and quietly sing. She figured she shouldn’t waste any time, especially since Feferi would probably throw and drag her around more if she came out and found she'd made little to no progress.

She searched through her chest of drawers and found a particularly nice blue dress which patterned a lighter blue flower every now and again. She liked this dress, it had a sort of innocence and simplicity about it, and also she was pretty sure she had some great shoes to go with it. After getting changed into the dress and matching-coloured heels, she slipped some bangles onto her wrist and Feferi came out of the shower.

“Oh my God, what are you wearing?!” she gasped, dripping water all over the floor.

“Uh, is this not appropriate for the occasion?” Kanaya asked unsurely.

“Kanaya, it’s completely inappropriate for the occasion! It’s the opposite of this occasion.” Feferi frowned anxiously, “it’s not that it isn’t nice, it is, it’s beautiful actually. But I said short, and this comes down to your knee! Also it is way too formal and cute, the club scene is more, I don’t know, daring?”

She swept over the chest of drawers and started rummaging through it, “honestly that was the worst decision ever, I would have thought a Fashion Design student would have been a pro at this,” she rambled as she dug through Kanaya’s clothes, “luckily you have me here to save you. This!”

She pulled out a short, red, sleeveless dress with a glistening black statement belt around the middle. It was something she had fallen in love with a year or so ago but had never had the confidence to wear, or the place to wear it at, or whatever excuse she could think of at the time.

“I don’t think that’s the best item I have, to be perfectly honest,” Kanaya said awkwardly, “I don’t even know why I brought it to uni. I’m sure I have other short things in there if that is the necessary requirement.”

She stepped forwards to get to other clothes but Feferi stopped her and shoved the dress into her arms. “Nope!” she giggled, “this is the one! Find some matching shoes and accessories, I need to go help Rose now. I bet she’s doing as terribly as you!”

She laughed and skipped out of the room. Wow, she could be so unintentionally harsh.

Kanaya did find some ravishing scarlet shoes with silver gem detail that went so well with some crystal bracelets she had lying around, and she also managed to find a beautiful slim clutch. The good thing about being into fashion was that she always had the perfect thing to wear and accessorize with, even if she preferred not to choose certain things in her wardrobe.

Upon finishing her ensemble, she started on her make up; she applied the normal foundation, mascara and some neutral eye shadow. She then added some green eyeliner to her waterline and slipped on her classic jade lipstick. Once done, she got up and went to find the other girls to see how they were coming along. Feferi had obviously been and left since she found Rose alone in her room, sitting at her desk, looking absolutely stunning. She wore a plum-coloured mini-dress with matching purple heels and an amethyst necklace. The dress had a tasteful V-neck and the sides had cut-outs, the piece of material between the cut-outs had a silver shimmering buckle in the shape of a circle which was decorated with tiny crystals. She was in the middle of blow-drying her short blonde hair, but she heard Kanaya come in and so turned the machine off and looked at her, smiling.

“You look beautiful,” Rose said, taking a breath, her eyes gazing up and down at Kanaya and her attire.

“Oh, you look much better than I do,” she said, blushing slightly, wanting to look away modestly but not being able to tear her eyes away from the girl in front of her, “you look utterly gorgeous.”

It was Rose’s turn to blush. She tried to pat her hair away as it started to settle in front of her eyes, she laughed to herself a little.

“Well, you definitely look lovely,” Rose said, now using a comb to tame her hair, “but how about I dry that hair of yours?”

Kanaya had completely forgotten how her hair was still soaked and by now it was dripping droplets onto her shoulders, so she accepted and took her place in the chair while Rose went around the back of her. She turned on the hair dryer and started brushing through Kanaya’s thick black hair. Once it was dry, Rose took her hands and ran her fingers through the hair to style it into position. Kanaya smiled, almost laughing, as she felt Rose’s delicate fingertips stroke through her hair, caressing the little waves and tufts as it flicked upwards.  
“I don’t think I want to ruin your hair by straightening or curling it,” Rose said, she too smiling, “I like it just the way it is.”

“Nothing done to my hair?” Kanaya chuckled, “Feferi might have a fit.”

Rose joined in with the laughter and then seemed to get an idea. She pulled out the little drawer in the desk which contained a jumble of jewellery and other kinds of accessories and knick-knacks. After burrowing around for a minute or so, she pulled out a set of two identical hair barrettes.

“Parts of it are real diamond, or so I’ve been told,” she said, clasping it into place in Kanaya’s hair, “it was a going-away present from my friend Dave. It’s not really my style, but I think he just didn’t know what to get me. Not because he’s a bad friend or anything like that, it’s more that he doesn’t cope well in emotional situations. So he probably just panicked and thought ‘jewellery, girls likes that’. But that’s ok, I don’t mind, in fact I think I like it better because the gift captured him so perfectly.”

“Rose,” Kanaya said, turning around to face the girl who had tears wobbling at the edges of her eyes, “this…is too special to you. I can’t take it. If I ever broke it or lost it I…”

Rose took Kanaya’s hand as it rose to take out the barrette. She held her hand for a second before guiding it back down to her side.

“I want you to wear it. Really, it’s not a big deal,” she said with a smile, “look, I’ll even wear the other one.”

She slid the other pin into her hair but without a mirror it turned out pretty wonky. Kanaya laughed and stood up, she smoothed over Rose’s hair and adjusted the barrette properly.

“There, now we match,” she said, beaming at Rose.

They stared at each other for a while longer, both lost in the other’s deep eyes which seemed to hold some locked away secrets. What were they? If only they could get a closer look into the others mind, they may have discovered it there and then.

It was Feferi who interrupted them. She bounded in, loudly thrashing the door open and then gasping dramatically. She wore a strapless pouf dress that glittered of merged pastel colours, it was mainly sky blue but when it caught the light some parts would shine pink or green or yellow. Her hair was as thick and luscious as ever, but now had a few tiny braids and hair gems twisted into it. Kanaya couldn’t tell if it was because of the outfit or whether it was just the vibe Feferi gave off, but somehow she still managed to look like she had just been plucked from the ocean. “Wow!” she breathed, “you guys both look so good! I love the hair clips! Are they the same? And Kanaya those accessories match the dress perfectly! Well to be honest it’s not like you’re some kind of amateur at this, are you? Come on it’s almost eight, let’s go see if Terezi and Aradia are outside yet!”

Both Rose and Kanaya took their chances to return the compliments as Feferi hurried them down the stairs, but it seemed unlikely that she took too much notice of what they were saying, she thanked them anyway though.

 

***

 

Outside stood Terezi in a satin teal sleeveless dress with a deep V-neck, there was also a thin crimson sash belt that went around her waist and finished with a delicate red flower at her side. Aradia wore a dark maroon red skater dress which was, admittedly, quite short, but otherwise very reserved for a night out. The sleeves were long and the neckline didn’t plunge too low, the most adventurous piece of the outfit was probably the corset boots which Kanaya had a feeling Terezi probably pushed her into wearing.

“You guys look so nice! Terezi, that eyeliner is the cutest thing on you,” Feferi said, “ok, so should I call a cab?”

“Already sorted,” Terezi grinned, pointing to the bright red car behind her, “I got us a ride.”

“Oh, awesome!” Feferi said and joined Terezi in walking towards the car, “you invited someone else?”

“Well, he agreed to drive us, but I doubt he’ll stay,” she replied, pulling open the door and getting in.

“I’ll be fucking damned if I’m staying with you idiots whilst you go prancing around in your shitty little club,” an angry voice commented from the driver’s seat, “count me the hell out, thanks.”

“Don’t worry, no one’s inviting you anyway,” Terezi replied, doing up her seatbelt, “you’re just here because you’re the only guy I know with a six-seater car, that’s all.”

“Good, because I don’t want to catch any STD’s from that fucking place,” the guy said, apparently not aware that he was actually shouting, “I mean, I bet I’ve already got fucking genital warts just from talking about it. Hey Terezi, want to check? I think I can actually feel them itching and it’s starting to seriously freak me the fuck out to be perfectly honest.”

“No one cares about your fake sex-warts Karkat,” she responded as the others shuffled into the vehicle, “because no one’s going to see them. Ever.”

“Oh HA HA,” he spat mockingly, “just be careful I don’t get the urge to scratch whilst driving and ACCIDENTALLY crash this thing into a fucking gas station.”

The girls sat patiently as the boy made exaggerated shocked expressions.

“Oh no! Everyone in that car must have fucking died in that humungous, 9/11-topping explosion!" he gasped theatrically, bringing one hand to his forehead and the other to his cheek, “what a tragedy! Even that one decent guy in the whole shitty city must have burned painfully to death, eyeballs bursting and shooting gloopy ass-juice everywhere…”

“Ass-juice? Eugh, gross, stop.”

“The veins containing his very essence ripping apart like his bountiful fucking future, now terminated, never to bless the world…”

“I said stop.”

“‘who will lead us now?’ they’ll cry! ‘Who else in this whole gut-wrenching world is capable enough to take control and guide us to victory?’ The answer is no one! All that are left are fucking retards who make fun of their Goddamn charitable drives who are fucking generous enough to act as their free taxis so they can go embarrass themselves at stupid nightclubs.”

“Basically yes, now get driving,” Terezi commanded with a cackle.

The boy, Karkat, groaned and started the engine.

Now that he wasn’t blocking his face with exuberant body gestures, Kanaya realised that she recognised him.

“Wait, weren’t you at…” she stopped herself before she could utter the words ‘the Tavros party’, she hesitated awkwardly as she tried to recover, “…um, I mean, I think I’ve seen you around somewhere.”

“Well no fucking wonder, we go to the same school and live in the same building, retard,” Karkat replied and was consequently hit on the head by Terezi.

“Don’t be rude to new people, dumbass!” she cried, “They’ll find out how unbearable you are even faster.”

The two then engaged in mindless bickering for the rest of the journey, and Kanaya couldn’t work out if they actually hated each other or…well it’s not like it was any of her business anyway, right? She should just shut up and stop thinking. There was no need to be getting involved in the drama of other people’s love lives, that just leads to trouble. Not that she was suggesting that there was any love life to get involved in there! No, there would be no forthcoming attempts from her to mediate between these two. She knew from previous experiences that trying to arbitrate between two people in which there could, and she emphasised COULD, be some sort of romantic feelings involved, it was best to just leave them alone. No matter how much the arguments seemed to beckon, plead and beg her to resolve them. Kanaya pursed her lips and tried to ignore the overwhelming sexual tension in the car. She found her eyes naturally drifting towards Rose. She quickly caught herself and cursed under her breath.

Finally, the car stopped outside a bustling street where the sound of beating music could be heard behind nearby closed doors.

“I think you’re just jealous.”

“Me? Fucking jealous? What the fuck would I have to be jealous of you about? Oh damn, could it be that gorgeous birds nest of a wig you call hair, or possibly the fact that you get to fucking lick everything like a slobbering dog, by which I mean a bitch in case you’re too retarded to understand, without anyone questioning it because they don’t want to offend you or some shit?”

“Exactly! You’re jealous that I’m blind and you are not.”

“Holy fucking Christ you’ve got me! I admit it! How I crave to live in darkness and stumble into everything like I can’t control the rest of my body too. I secretly scratch at my eyes every night, hoping and praying to some sick God up there to please take away my sight, please oh please it is the one thing I want in my putrid, miserable clusterfuck of a life!”

“You can see and it’s so boring, that’s what you have a problem with, Karkat. All this shouting is just a literal cry for help, isn’t it?”

“No! I don’t want to be blind you absolute fucking spaz, what’s your problem? I’m starting to think it’s not just your vision that’s fucking impaired.”

“I’m going to tell everyone how you’ve insulted me and my disability.”

“What are you fucking talking about?”

“What was it again? Something about being retarded and a bitch? And also how I walk into things sometimes because I can’t fucking see? I have witnesses, there’s like four other people in this car.”

“WE’RE HERE SO WILL YOU JUST GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY CAR ALREADY?”

Terezi laughed as she and everyone else got out of the car. She lent down and tapped on the window before leaving, “see you here at midnight to pick us up?”

Karkat was silent for a few uncomfortable seconds until he started grumbling to himself, and then suddenly “Goddamnit, fine! I hope you have a terrible time!”

“Bye sweetie!” Terezi chirped and waved sweetly as the car sped away.

Terezi turned only to be greeted with the embarrassing question posed by Feferi, “so, have you kissed yet?”

“Bleh! No!” she spat, making a face of disgust, “what the hell?”

“I’m just saying,” Feferi shrugged, “you’d be really cute together.”

“Never in a million years,” Terezi said, then to dismiss the conversation entirely she started marching towards a club.

The line was horrific and it took forever to get in. Feferi insisted that they all try to flirt their way in early, but Terezi refused on the grounds that the queue was there for a reason and she wasn’t going to ignore its authority, Kanaya and Rose stood there watching awkwardly, and Aradia was ok with whatever. In the end it was Terezi who won, mainly because no one wanted to flirt with the sweaty bouncer guarding the door, and it took about half an hour before they were allowed entrance.

A song Kanaya had never heard before pulsed through the sticky air, she flinched at the strength of the sound along with Rose as the others walked in with ease. People were jumping and dancing in the middle of the room, but Kanaya wasn’t sure if THAT counted as dancing…There were also a number of sofas and tables towards the back of the room that people were generally…oh, that didn’t look consensual at all…above the music the sound of breaking glass and shouts erupted from one corner of the room, and less than a minute later a pair of bouncers pushed past them carrying two angry intoxicated men…hey look, now that girl was topless.

Feferi skipped back to the distressed girls upon realising they hadn’t walked further in with the others, she took their hands and yelled over the music, “come on, let’s get a drink!”

She guided them towards a crowded bar and screamed for five something or another’s, the bartender nodded and got out five shot glasses, a can of some energy drink and a an unnerving green bottle. He set to work and made five identical strange concoctions which everyone drank, even Aradia.

“Cheers,” said Rose with a shrug and then a chug of her drink. Kanaya was feeling apprehensive enough already without ethanol coursing through her veins, but eventually peer pressure won her over and she drank.

The taste was incredibly bitter and had a terrible after-taste. She would have spewed it out onto the floor if it weren’t for a few of her friends shouting nervous encouragements for her to keep it down and not throw up her lunch. Ugh, how could the others stomach the awful brew?

But it wasn’t long before she forgot about the taste. She started to forget about everything really. She had suddenly become extremely dizzy and altogether nonsensical, she was somehow aware of this and yet unable to stop it.

“Hehe, you ok?” Terezi possibly asked with a laugh. Is that what she said? Oh, who knew. She should perhaps just say ‘yes’ in reply, it would probably be the best course of action anyway. Kanaya felt that ‘yes’ was always the best course of action, and she was completely certain of that suddenly.

“Yesh” the words slurred a little but she didn’t really care. Terezi got the gist of it, so what was the point of elaborate pragmatics? There was no point, that’s what.

“Huh?” Terezi replied. Her voice seemed much slower than usual, almost as if someone had altered it purposely to confuse her.

“Wha…?”

“Hey?”

“Wha…?"

“Kanaya.”

“Wha…?”

“Oh my God stop.”

“Wha...I donut know wha you shayin,” Kanaya babbled.

“Holy shit, are you seriously this far gone after one shot?” Terezi asked tiredly. “I am not taking you home, we literally just got here."

“Hey no…Teresa?”

“Terezi.”

“No I’m, I’m Kaneesha ok.”

“This is stupid,” she sighed dramatically, “look just…”

Terezi took a hold of Kanaya and moved her over to the corner of the large room. Kanaya almost fell at least twice as she was forced backwards by the blind girl who was apparently seeing for the both of them, which was rather silly in her opinion. But everything was rather silly at that moment so she didn’t do anything about the absurdity.

“Just stay there, ok?” Terezi said, “Someone will come and check on you every now and again. Come find us when you start feeling better. God, it’s like you’ve never drunk alcohol before.”

Kanaya started rambling weird words and noises which probably, if sober, were some sort of witty retort to the implication. But in her current state the meaning of her blabs were lost and she was left to stand in the dark corner.

She wasn’t alone for long though, and soon someone came up to speak to her.

“Hey, Kanaya,” someone said, “Fancy seeing you here.”

Augh, who was that? She didn’t know. She was feeling dizzier and sicker as the seconds passed, her vision was so blurry now that she could hardly tell if the shape in front of her was human.

“Whoa, what happened to you?” the voice laughed a little, “don’t worry, I can sort you out. Come with me.”

Kanaya felt herself being walked away by someone, she suddenly got chillier so…oh yes, she was right, they were leaving the sweaty club and going outside.

“Who are..hey you, I’m talkin…” she murmured, pathetically reaching up a limp arm to tap at the person guiding her away.

“Kanaya chill out, you’re going to be fine,” the person replied, “I can get you back home easy. We’ll take a short cut through the streets and come out near the park.”

Although she had practically zero information, e.g. who was she with? Where was she going? Was she safe?, Kanaya was apparently satisfied with this short explanation and continued to willingly wobble down the street.

“Just through here,” the voice said as the person pulled her through a darker, tighter space.

“Hey sister.”

“Sorry, can’t stop.”

“I’ll wait.”

What? Wait was that another person? Kanaya squirmed a little, feeling more uneasy about her situation now, but strong hands gripped her in position.

“Calm down, stop freaking out, ok?” the voice pestered, firmer now, “we’re almost there, we’re near the park now and soon we’ll be at your place.”

“I wanna…I wanna go…”

“No. It’s not safe, Kanaya.”

“But I hates it an I’m scared a bit.”

The mystery person stopped both of their movements. Kanaya looked around a little, but by now all she could really see were blurred block colours. She saw a lot of green and a bit of brown, so maybe they really had reached the park.

“Are we at…”

“Sorry.” Suddenly Kanaya heard a loud scream come from directly next to her and the grip from her sides loosened. She felt something pound into her skull and then she too released her own wail as her knees buckled and she collapsed in a heap on the ground. The final spots of her vision faded to deathly black and she found herself slipping into heavy darkness.


	8. Enigma

“Hey sleepy head, you waking up?” a somewhat familiar voice asked sweetly.

Kanaya gargled as she sat up. Where was she? She opened her eyes weakly in the dim light and felt around her. Cushions…softness…it was her bed. She looked up, squinting as her eyes adjusted, still dizzy, and saw a figure on the bed opposite her.

“Feeling any better?” the person asked, “you were so out of it. I was almost worried.”

The fuzziness started to decrease and facial features came to the forefront of the now identifiable girl’s face.

“Vriska?” Kanaya murmured, “What…what happened?”

“I don’t know, at first I thought you were just pissed out of your head,” she answered, “but I think you might have been drugged or something.”

“Drugged?!” she spluttered in surprise, “how? I…oh, I can hardly remember a thing.”

“Did a dodgy-looking guy buy you a drink? Eat any funny brownies?” Vriska asked with a shrug. “It could’ve been anything, to be honest. Really Kanaya, you should be more careful!”

“I usually am,” Kanaya replied, beginning to regain composure now. “I only remember one drink with the girls before...no, there was someone else there…I think they took me outside? But then how did I get back here?”

“Look, I’ll tell you what I know, at least,” Vriska replied, sitting up to engage further, “I was at the club when I saw you come in. I was going to go up and say hi but then I saw that you were with, well, others, so I thought it’d be best to go. I mean, I’d been there a while anyway, I was planning on heading out soon after that, so it wasn’t like it was a big deal. But I was still kind of bummed to leave, which is pretty stupid actually, but still, so I really took my time on the way home, taking long detours and stuff. And then I saw you! I guess I must have been wandering like an idiot for so long that I caught you on your way home or something. There was someone with you, all shadow-y and shit, couldn’t even see who it was. I thought maybe it was Terezi or Rose or whatever, but since I didn’t see you back at the club I figured I’d call out to you this time now that there were less people, but you didn’t answer. I was all like ‘hey sis!’ but then whoever you were with basically told me to fuck off so I was like ‘fine bitch, I’ll wait’, except then I lost track of you guys so that intimidating comment was pretty pathetic in the end. Do you remember me calling to you?”

“I remember…something like that,” Kanaya said, “yes, I think so.”

“Yeah, well, I was feeling a bit pissed after being ignored like that. Not by you or anything, I could see that you were shit-faced, but by the prick walking you home,” Vriska went on, “so I tried to find you both again. After forever I finally saw you both at the edge of the park in town, so I started marching up to you. The guy with you turned around and saw me, and they freaked the absolute fuck out! He or she or whatever screamed and took off running, I think he hit you or something first, but I couldn’t see because it was dark. I was so ready to chase him, oh my God my adrenaline was going mad, but then I saw you fall to the ground and was like ‘oh shit!’ so I took you back here to rest up. You were asleep for ages, I almost took you to the hospital, do you even know what time it is? It’s like four pm. And this all happened last night.”

Kanaya felt her hand to her head and felt a sharp pain. She cried out a little. “Yes, I think I may have been hit with something,” she informed, wincing at the sting.

“Oh damn, sorry I should have checked you over better,” Vriska said, “let me take a look at it.”

As she stood up, she opened the blinds and allowed the natural in to brighten the room. She placed herself behind Kanaya, her legs curling around hers subtly, and she started to stroke through her hair to find the injury.

“Hmm, yeah there’s a bit of a cut here,” she said, “doesn’t look like it’ll need a trip to the hospital though, we can patch it up here just fine. I’ll go grab the First Aid Kit.”

She hopped up and went into the bathroom.

Kanaya’s hand rose to her head again, but this time her fingers weren’t searching for a cut.

“Oh no,” she breathed, then called out, “Vriska? I was…I was wearing something in my hair last night, do you have it? A little barrette?”

“No, sorry,” Vriska called back, “you could phone the club to see if they picked it up? But I doubt any of those kind of people would hand it in, or even see it if it’s just a hair clip.”

“It’s not just a hair clip,” Kanaya replied, half angry and half tearful, “it’s made of diamond and belongs to a friend. It is actually very important.”

“Shit, made of diamond? Sorry Kanaya, it’s long gone,” she said, carrying a green medical box over to the bed, “you shouldn’t bring treasure to the cove unless you’re willing to kill some smugglers.”

Kanaya sniffled quietly as Vriska sat behind her again and began to treat the cut on her scalp.

“Am I hurting you?” she asked.

“No,” she answered, her voice shaking.

“Ok…well, why are you crying then?” Vriska asked.

“I am not crying. This is more of a whimper.” Kanaya snivelled defensively. “It’s just that I’m going to have to tell Rose I lost her barrette. It was really special to her and she trusted me with it and I just let her down completely!”

“Oh, so it belonged to Rose?” she repeated, “It’s fine, I’m sure she’ll get over it. She never says a word anyway, so no worries about getting into arguments, am I right?”

Vriska laughed and Kanaya snapped her head around angrily, shooting daggers at the girl.

“Whoa, chill out, ok? Sorry, sorry,” she said in surrender, “jeez, since when were you guys so close?”

“It just happened really,” Kanaya replied, an iciness still persisting in her voice, “she’s actually a very nice girl. You should meet her, make a friend possibly.”

“Nah, you’re ok. She’s far too quiet for my liking,” she said, pinning back the hair and placing the last butterfly strips onto the cut, “no offence.”

“I think you would like her,” she said, “she is much more communicative once she has been introduced to someone.”

Vriska shrugged and began to pack away the medical supplies. “Whatever. In case you haven’t noticed, I’m not that great at making new friends.”

“Well maybe not,” Kanaya said and turned around to face her, “but couldn’t this be a fresh start? I assure you she is very nice.”

“Yes, I am assured by that,” Vriska smiled, and Kanaya couldn’t tell whether or not she was being sarcastic.

Kanaya followed her into the bathroom, pestering her; “oh honestly, I really think that if you were a bit more open to these kind of things you would make so many more friends. You must stop cooping yourself up and away from everyone else, it’s only making them distrust you more, don’t you see? They are nice girls, you just need to get them to lower their barriers. Come on, I shall introduce you to Rose.”

Kanaya took Vriska’s hand and tugged her towards the door.

“Kanaya, wait!” she protested.

She opened the door to the scene of her dorm. And also, apparently, a crime scene.

Yellow tape reading ‘POLICE LINE DO NOT CROSS’ was stretched everywhere like an obstacle course and the floor was covered in white plastic sheets. Kanaya ducked under the first yellow barrier and walked further out into the transformed front room, she looked around in bewilderment at everything; the sofa, the T.V, the kitchen counters, they were all wrapped in protective translucent sheets.

“What the…”

“Kanaya!” the squeal came from Feferi as she walked out from her room. The girl ran across the corridor towards Kanaya, arms outstretched for a hug, before she was tackled to the ground by Terezi.

“Don’t touch her until forensics get here!” Terezi screamed over Feferi’s yowls from under her.

“Does anyone mind telling me what is going on?” Kanaya asked over the squabbles.

“You’re alive!” beamed Feferi, still trapped underneath her roommate.

Terezi pressed down harder on the girl’s back before saying, “Are you going to calm down?”

“Yes, yes, ok!” Feferi replied, rolling her eyes and squirming, “I promise I won’t contaminate anyone.”

Terezi released her prisoner who stood up and did a little jig on the spot in front of Kanaya who, once again, demanded to know what was going on.

“You’ve been missing for approximately nineteen and a half hours Kanaya, for fucks sake,” Terezi told her, “how can you not know what’s going on?”

“Wow, nineteen and half hours you say?” Kanaya repeated, “When you say it like that it sounds much longer than eight-thirty to four.”

“Yes, only four and a half more hours until you could be recorded as an official missing person,” she replied, “that reminds me, Feferi can you call the police and tell them we found her?”

“You called the police?” Kanaya said in surprise and looked around the dorm, “is that what this all is, then? The police were here?”

“The police visited momentarily to check the place out, ask us stuff, see if you were hiding in any cupboards or anything, etcetera,” she answered, “but the tape and plastic sheets were my ideas. For all we know there could have been a crime and evidence had to be preserved!”

“Uh, sure,” Kanaya replied, hearing Feferi talking on the phone in the background, “but I believe I was in my room almost all night. Ever since Vriska found me unconscious in the street.”

“Oh really? How very interesting.” Terezi said, eyeing Vriska who took a slight step back, “Do you know why that statement is interesting, Vriska?”

“I brought her home last night, ok? I did,” Vriska insisted, “and then everyone was shouting and blowing their shit this morning and I knew she needed her rest so I took her somewhere else. Is that so bad?”

“You knew we had no idea where she was, why didn’t you tell us?” Terezi prompted, “Why did you sneak out with her and where did you go?”

“Last night I saw her with someone and I’m pretty sure it was one of you guys, someone who went out with her last night,” Vriska explained, baring her teeth, “and that person hit her around the head. I wasn’t going to tell the suspects where the victim was, was I? I’m sure you agree, legislacerator.”

“Of course, that would be perfectly reasonable. Had you any evidence whatsoever suggesting we had been the assailants,” she pressed on, “now answer the fucking question: where did you take her?”

“I took her to a friend’s house.”

“What friend?”

“None of your business. I’ll tell only the police.”

“Fine,” Terezi snarled, “they should be here very soon anyway.”

Vriska simply walked over to the plastic-covered sofa, sat down and started tapping distantly on her phone as if bored by the whole surreal situation.

 

***

Terezi was right about the police, and they arrived about twenty minutes later. Upon entering the room they were placed into a state of…mixed awe and confusion, at the sight of the crime-scenesque dorm. They questioned everyone for about two minutes each, Kanaya for five minutes, before deciding that it would be best to treat the circumstances as criminal and so took everyone down to the station for interviews. Unfortunately Rose was in a class, as was Kanaya supposed to be, and so an officer had to be sent for her a while later and they didn’t see her until after they left the station.

They each told their versions of the story, and by that she meant that Vriska attempted to pin everything on Terezi as much as possible, and vice versa.

At the end Kanaya was told that it was routine for her to be examined by a health specialist in order to check for injuries both for the benefits of her well-being and to gather more evidence for the suspicious case.

She was checked over by one doctor and two assistants who took the general measurements such as height, weight, “do you smoke?” etc. The cut to her head was examined, made notes on, had photos taken and then re-treated more professionally than Vriska’s handiwork. It was also discovered that she had a number of bruises and scratches all around her body, as well as some parallel redness around the wrists and waist. It was at that point that the medical staff asked to examine some more intimate areas of Kanaya which, although she felt incredibly embarrassed as well as worried about, she was compelled to allow since it was part of the standard precautions.

Kanaya was told that a group of specialists would review the notes in the morning and an official medical report would be presented to the metropolitan police by tomorrow afternoon, at which point she would be given more information.

Finally, at ten o’clock at night, she was able to go back home. When she returned the dorm was still covered in a thick layer of plastic, but now instead of a smooth and untouched finish, the plastic was creased and folded. She closed the door behind her and the sound alerted the household that she had arrived, and soon she had all four of her roommates bustling around her like she was the prize pig at the county fair.

“Kanaya! You’re back! How was it? Are you ok?”

“At last you’re here, that took ages! Somehow Terezi has become even more of a bitch than before when you were here, so do you think you can tell her to fuck off for me?”

“Need someone to do your dirty work for you, Vriska? Wow, how out of character. No, keep going, really. I’m interested to see how much of a sneaky, conniving little shit you can be in front of an audience.”

“Kanaya.”

Kanaya’s eyes fell on Rose, and she smiled amongst the argumentative chaos surrounding her. They closed the few feet between them and hugged tightly, the others around them quieting down.

“I missed you,” Rose whispered, “I was worried.”

“I am sorry,” Kanaya uttered back in her ear, “I wandered off rather idiotically, didn’t I?”

“Don’t be silly,” Rose replied with a laugh as she stepped out of the hug, still holding Kanaya by the shoulders, “we should have all been looking out for each other. It was a collective mistake, believe me. And it is one I feel absolutely terrible about.”

“Oh please don’t blame yourself,” she said, cocking her head slightly to the right, “that would only make me feel worse for causing you all such distress.”

Rose smiled again. It was one of those endearing smiles with one little up-turned edge that completely melted Kanaya whenever she had the pleasure of witnessing it.

“Yeah, sorry Kanaya,” Feferi interrupted with innocent sorrow, “we should have kept an eye on you. We shouldn’t have left you alone in a corner.”

She shot a glare at Terezi who raised her shoulders passively and said, “Yeah, ok. My bad. Sorry Kanaya.”

“Oh, maybe The Great Terezi Pyrope isn’t as flawless as she thinks she is?” Vriska teased spitefully.

“Shut up,” growled Terezi in reply, “at least I apologise for my wrongdoings.”

“Hey, I’ve apologised for a bunch of stuff!” she protested.

“Oh yeah?” she said, “like what?”

“I have totally apologised for the whole Tavros thing, I said sorry years ago!” Vriska shouted.

“We all know you only did that for show in court,” Terezi argued, “and don’t bother with dancing around the specifics with your poisonous tongue; everyone here already knows what you did.”

“They…” she hesitated, looking at Feferi to Rose and then to Kanaya, their faces answering the questions screaming in her head. She locked her eyes back onto Terezi. “Fine. If you want to go around destroying my rep just to get more friends then so be it, you desperate fuck. But you know I apologised to you, Aradia and Tavros.”

“I still can’t believe Tavros accepted such a pathetic fake apology,” Terezi answered, narrowing her brow. “I wonder if he would forgive you again after this time. Too bad he’s fucking dead so we’ll never find out!”

Vriska cried out and lunged at Terezi, grabbing at her hair and slamming her spine into the floor. Terezi quickly recovered and started thwacking her knee into Vriska’s stomach, whilst Vriska plunged her fist into her nose. They both fought valiantly as well as dirty, using underhanded tactics in such remarkably clever ways that it almost made the on-lookers want to get some popcorn.

“Not again,” Feferi groaned as the two rolled around on the ground causing numerous small injuries to each other and crinkling the plastic on the floor. Ah, so that was why most of the plastic was now disturbed.

“No, hey, stop!” Kanaya yelled over their grumbles as Vriska landed another shot at Terezi’s ribs, “please stop fighting, it is not going to solve anything!”

“Oof!”

“Argh!”

“Both of you calm down!”

“Ouch!”

“Fuck!”

“This isn’t going to change the past! Just both stop and we will talk about all this!”

“Ack!”

“You piece of…argh!”

“I SAID STOP!” Kanaya screamed, stamping her foot down between them, barely missing Terezi’s arm. Upon demanding their attention, she crouched down and forcefully pushed them apart when the fighting had momentarily ceased.

“Right,” she said, breathing heavily and towering over the two beaten girls on the floor, “you are both my friends, and I don't care how many problems you have had in the past, as terrible as they may be, I just want you to stop fighting. Please! For once! Don’t you understand that it is tiring for the rest of us? Since day one your bickering and hostility has been bringing down this entire household and I am fed up of it. If you don’t like each other, fine! I am not asking you to become best friends, I just want you to tolerate each other enough so that you don’t put each other in hospital, ok?! Now both of you go to your rooms and don’t come out until tomorrow! Do you understand?”

Both girls stared for a while, held in place by shock, before muttering their submissions and climbing up to their feet. Without looking at each other, and only glancing up at Kanaya once, they both retreated into their separate rooms and closed the doors behind them.

Kanaya allowed herself to relax her muscles after her show of dominance and mediation, and Rose began a complimentary slow clap.

 

***

The next morning the dorm was silent. Vriska went to class promptly, not even waking Kanaya who had decided to stay at home that day in order to prepare herself for her visit to the police station in the afternoon to review her medical assessment and the police’s information and opinions on how to progress in the investigation into what happened two nights prior.

The place was empty by the early afternoon, and Kanaya received a call at one o’clock asking her to visit the station at three o’clock.

At three pm she arrived and was taken into a private room with two police officers she recognised from the interview room, the doctor from before and a comforting-looking woman in an informal green jumper.

“Miss Maryam, a team of five medical specialists and I have looked over the notes from your medical assessment, and together with the interviews recorded by the police we have reached a number of likely conclusions regarding your health as well as other criminal aspects of the night in question,” the familiar doctor stated, “but before we go on, I must ask again; are you sure you have told the police everything you know and can remember of that night?”

“Yes, of course,” Kanaya replied, feeling the uneasy tension hanging in the air, “I was rather dizzy for the most part of it and unconscious for the rest, but I have told of everything I know.”

“Yes, thank you. We just wanted to make sure that we still have the same information as you and that you didn’t remember anything else in the time between yesterday and this afternoon. It is important for us to know because…” he seemed to choke on the words for a second, not quite knowing how to phrase his sentence. Kanaya noticed, for a fleeting moment, that every pair of eyes in the room flicked downwards. “Because we have concluded from our assessments that there is substantial evidence of rape, Miss Maryam.”


	9. Vigilantes

Kanaya felt…more confused, than angry or distraught. At first she refused to believe what the professionals told her, and it took about two hours with the woman in the green jumper, who was in fact a councillor, before she finally came to terms with what had happened.

It terrified her to think about who could have done such a thing, her only relief being that she still couldn’t remember a single detail. Ironically, that was also the cause of her suffering; she had absolutely no clue as to who attacked her, the criminal could be a random stranger or someone she saw every day. Perhaps she had passed the offender on her way over to the station, or on her way back home in the unnerving dim evening light, the whole notion made her shudder.

When she got home she immediately went to bed, but not asleep. Vriska stayed up watching a Nicholas Cage movie on her laptop, and although Kanaya had overheard her roommate criticize his movies in the past, Vriska would probably rather torture herself with the two hour long feature than spend any time around the others. Strangely, every now and again she thought she heard a little chuckle of enjoyment.

At eight o’clock the next morning, Vriska whisked off on her motorbike to class. It was likely that she thought Kanaya had already left the building earlier, as she usually did, and so didn’t bother checking under the duvet which hid her heavy body. Kanaya didn’t really feel like going to class today, she would just catch up on the work later or something.  
It wasn’t until the late morning that she was dragged out of bed by hunger and she shuffled out into the kitchen to retrieve some convenient food. She was about to slink back to her room alone when Rose came out of her own room and spotted her.

“Kanaya,” she said, still in her purple pyjamas, “don’t you have a class this morning?”

Kanaya looked down sheepishly and held the bag of crisps she had taken behind her back, as if it were contraband. “Well, yes,” she replied awkwardly, “but I don’t really feel up to it today.”

“But you love learning more about fashion,” Rose remarked confusedly. She walked towards her roommate, sensing that something was wrong, and asked, “Why don’t you want to attend?”

Kanaya’s lip wobbled slightly and she continued to look down, attempting to shield her watery eyes from someone whose opinion she thought highly of. But she couldn’t. A small cry escaped her lips and her body shook forwards. At that, Rose rushed forwards and took her in her arms, as Kanaya allowed herself to sob softly into her friend’s shoulder.

Rose took Kanaya into her room and sat her down on the bed. For a while she comforted the girl who was traumatised for a reason she was too polite to ask, and that was possibly the best thing she could have done. Once she had settled down enough to form tangible sentences, Kanaya told Rose of what had happened last evening and what the police and medical experts had said.

“I’m…so sorry,” Rose said, taken aback and not feeling too certain on how to handle the situation now, “I can’t imagine how you must be feeling right now.”

“In all honesty I believe it could be worse. After all, I could have easily been tarnished with memories of the event, and instead I can’t recall a thing due to the drugs I had taken,” Kanaya replied with a brave wobble in her voice, “that would probably be worse. Even though having no idea as to the identity of my attacker is very disturbing.”

“Don’t worry, I heard the police are extremely reliable around here,” Rose said, her hand rubbing Kanaya’s back reassuringly, “besides, it was a busy night in town, correct? I am confident that witnesses will be found in no time.”

“Yes, I hope so,” Kanaya responded, “the police say they already have quite a lot of evidence even now. For example DNA and traces of cannabis found on me, as well as the fact that I lost…”

She caught herself suddenly and looked up at Rose who smiled sympathetically.

“You lost my barrette,” she said calmly, “It’s fine, I don’t mind, I always have the other one anyway. And I’m not exactly going to hold it against you, considering the circumstances in which you lost it. In fact I am partly glad you did lose it, because now if the police find it it can aid the investigation.”

Kanaya beamed and gave Rose another tight squeeze. “Thank you for helping me,” she said, “and thank you for not getting angry either.”

Rose giggled slightly. “The stupid barrette is unimportant Kanaya,” she said with a grin, “I only care about you, do you understand?”

“Yes,” Kanaya answered truthfully with a smile, “I do.”

On that positive note, Rose believed this to be the most appropriate time to stand up and propose that they go out to spend the day in town.

“Why should you want to do that?” Kanaya asked as she was beckoned to her feet.

“Because I think you could use some retail therapy or something,” Rose explained, “You enjoy shopping, yes? Well, when was the last time you had a splurge on clothes? I think it would do you good to get back in your element of fashion.”

“That may be fun,” she admitted, “I do have quite a lot of money saved up, and I could even find some items that would suit you.”

Rose rolled her eyes and said, “Ok fine I’ll let you dress me up. Get dressed, we can go right now.”

Rose trotted off to her own room to get changed, and Kanaya quickly picked out an appropriate outfit consisting of black shorts, a green off-the-shoulder top, knee-high black socks and brown boots. Rose appeared a little while later in a simple set of black skinny jeans, a purple tank top, a black leather jacket and some dark trainers. Kanaya was amazed at how an outfit so modest could look so brilliantly gorgeous on the girl, which only made her wonder what other clothes Rose could make come alive, and so she wasted no time in hurrying her out the door and heading off towards the shopping centre.

 

***

They spent hours darting from shop to shop, Kanaya thrusting clothing towards her friend to try on, finding the perfect shoes to finish an ensemble, admiring all the beautiful winter coats which had now come into stock.

Time had flown really, and it seemed insane to think that it was just two months ago that she first walked through the halls of HU as a student. Even stranger to think that it was only two months ago that Tavros was rocketed down the stairs by Vriska. Not that anyone knew that, or had any proof at least.

“Kanaya,” Rose smiled and waved her hand in front of her face. Kanaya blinked and turned to Rose with a dumbfounded expression. “I asked you whether you were done,” she said, “and if you wanted to get a coffee or something?”

“Coffee would be great,” Kanaya replied with an embarrassed giggle.

They made their way over to a small coffeehouse on the highstreet. Rose offered to order the drinks if Kanaya got a table, and so as Rose walked off towards the counter, Kanaya found a nice table next to the window.

Staring outside she saw what appeared to be the first promising specks of snow falling from the clouds. It wasn’t surprising, after all snowfall had been scheduled for the coming week and temperatures had been gradually dropping over the past few days especially. However, what was surprising to see was the strange, messy, possibly insane boy from her class standing idly in one of the crevices of the street. The boy fell back into the slim gap between two shops, and for a second Kanaya thought she saw him grin at her, and then he was gone.

“Rose,” she said as Rose placed down the heavy tray of hot beverages onto the table, “have you ever happened to see a rather peculiar type of boy hanging around?”

“What do you mean?” she asked, taking her cup into her hands, “I guess I see peculiar people all the time around here.”

“No, this one is different. Even stranger than the others we have met, if you can believe it,” Kanaya went on, “he has long, incredibly messy hair, he’s very skinny, has the most awful fashion sense, and I think he may also wear make-up.”

“Sounds like you’re talking about Makara,” a familiar voice commented. They looked up to see Vriska standing over them to eavesdrop, she then grabbed a chair from another table and sat down. “You do mean the CCCC, right?”

“The CCCC?” Rose repeated, shifting to make more room for their new guest.

“It’s what everyone calls him so he doesn’t know you’re talking trash about him. But honestly I don’t think he’d care either way,” Vriska shrugged, her thick hair falling forwards, “It stands for ‘crazy’, ‘clowns’ ‘church’ and ‘cannabis’. The four features that make that wacko Gamzee Makara the fucked up guy he is.”

“He sounds…” Rose began, but lost track of the adjective she was going to use. Was it ‘unstable’, ‘strange’ or a sarcastic ‘delightful’?

“He’s hard to sum up,” Vriska said, agreeing with Rose’s hesitance, “he freaks everyone out, but at the same time everyone loves him. He’s a pretty chill guy, also it’s kind of hard to not like your drug dealer.”

“Drugs, you say?” Kanaya asked, “well that might explain why he never does any work in class. It’s quite infuriating to watch, actually.”

“That’s a bit hypocritical coming from the girl who skipped class to go shopping,” Rose teased. Kanaya rolled her eyes and kicked Rose playfully under the table.

“You skipping classes now, Maryam?” Vriska chuckled, “you need to get back on you’re A game! Seriously, you used to be all ‘I can’t go out or do anything fun because studies, oh my god’. And now look at you!” Vriska finished her little high-pitched mocking impression of Kanaya with a violent swing of the head that almost hit a passing child behind her.

“I was only like that because I cared about getting a good education,” Kanaya replied, “and I still do! Care, I mean.”

“Then why are you bunking off?”

“It is none of your business.”

“Wah?!” Vriska exclaimed, slamming her palms down on the table and making the glasses shake. “Since when is your business none of my business?!”

“For as long as we have been entirely separate sentient beings?” she suggested with a slight bitterness to her tone.

“Oh come on, can it with that bullshit.” She cried, “We’re besties, we tell each other everything!”

“…Besties?”

“Yeah, like, I bet this Rose chick knows what’s up,” Vriska said and pointed a finger at Rose, “Do you know why she’s skipping class?”

“I can’t say, sorry,” Rose replied matter-of-factly.

“See?! She totally knows,” Vriska wailed, “what kind of bestie tells a non-bestie their problems but not their bestie?”

“What?” Kanaya asked, a bit dazed, “No, really, I’m not following.”

“Why are you telling Rose important stuff and not me?” she interrogated, “I know everything’s been tense and stuff because of me and Terezi, but are you really going to just replace me like this?”

“Replace you as what?” Kanaya said, “As a friend? You are still my friend Vriska. Just like Terezi, just like Feferi and just like Rose.”

“Am I? We never hang out anymore,” she huffed, “all you want to do is be with Rose.”

“That is not true and you know it,” she said.

“Is it?” Vriska cried, “Where’s the proof, huh?”

“I like you Vriska, you’re still my friend!”

“No I’m obviously not!”

“You're one of my closest friends!" Kanaya yelled. "You looked after me after I was raped for God's sake!” The sound echoed over the silent audience of the coffeehouse. She felt her face go red and began to sink down in her chair.

“Oh.” Vriska muttered, “Damn. You should’ve said…then I wouldn’t have started yelling like an idiot. Sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Kanaya sighed, slouching further down and wishing she had a bag to put over her head.

“Do you know who…?” she asked, coughing a few times afterwards to allude her full question.

“No,” she answered. “I was drugged, they believe. I don’t remember a thing.”

“Don’t worry,” Vriska said, suddenly lowering her posture into a predatory position and becoming very serious, “I’ll help you track them down. And if the police find them before we do, you better believe I’ll break into their jail cell and give them what they deserve. I swear. We’re not going to let whoever did this get away without paying.”

“I appreciate your enthusiasm, but I really think this is a job for the law,” Kanaya replied, “I hope this will all just be over soon, and when it is, I’m sure I’ll have all the justice I need.”

“Ugh, are you turning into Terezi or what?” Vriska said, crossing her arms and sitting up in a more assertive manner, “Get real. Sometimes legal justice isn’t enough! Sure, he can go to prison for his crimes. But he needs to be punished eight times as badly for committing a crime against YOU, right?!”

“Please,” Kanaya grumbled, resting her head in her hand, “we’re not a team of undergraduate vigilantes. I’d actually rather try to ignore this whole experience. I’m sure the police can do their job just fine without us; they already have plenty of evidence and possible leads, so hopefully it will all be over soon.”

“Hopefully, yes. But we don’t live in an ideal world,” she replied, “if you don’t want me to avenge you then fine, I guess. But you are being boring! I won’t kill the guy, but I still want to help, so can you tell me all the critical info I need?”

“Definitely not.”

“What?!”

“I’m not going to assist you in your ridiculous plan,” Kanaya said bluntly, “as good as your intentions are.”

“Come on, you know I’ll find out somehow anyway,” Vriska grinned devilishly, “Just tell me.”

“Oh, but I thought you enjoyed adventure?” Kanaya grinned back, “surely uncovering the information yourself is much less boring?”

They stared at each other for a few long seconds as Vriska’s grin slowly changed into a scowl, and then into a driven raised-eyebrow look.

“Alright,” she said and stood up from the table, “It’s only a matter of time. Just don’t forget I’m doing this for you.”

And then she left.

 

***

Later…  
arachnidsGrip [AG] began trolling gallowsCalibrator [GC]  
AG: Terezi.  
AG: I have a proposal for you.  
AG: That is, if you’re up for rekindling the old sparks of the human emotion we used to call friendship.


	10. Stealing the Universe

arachnidsGrip [AG] began trolling gallowsCalibrator [GC]  
AG: Terezi.  
AG: I have a proposal for you.  
AG: That is, if you’re up for rekindling the old sparks of the human emotion we used to call friendship.  
GC: FR13NDSH1P 1SNT 4N 3MOT1ON STUP1D  
GC: 4ND WHY WOULD 1 W4NT TO B3 FR13NDS W1TH 4 SL1PP3RY CONN1V3R L1K3 YOU  
AG: Oh come on, you can’t deny that we were a gr8 team!  
AG: Why can’t we 8e like that again?  
AG: I’ve tried and tried and tried and tried and tried and tried and tried and tried to make it up to you 8ut all you do is 8low me off!  
GC: YOU KNOW 4S W3LL 4S 1 DO TH4T YOUR D3F1N1T1ON OF ‘T34M’ 1S JUST YOU M4N1PUL4T1NG OTH3RS 1NTO DO1NG WH4T YOU W4NT  
GC: 1 4M SO OV3R THOSE T1M3S  
GC: 1 THOUGHT YOU F1N4LLY GOT TH4T 4LR34DY  
AG: Well yeah sure, I agree that our little scuffles are a lot of fun.  
AG: 8ut I just wanted to get serious for a minute a8out all the serious stuff that’s 8een happening.  
GC: TH3Y W3R3NT SCUFFL3S, TH3Y W3R3 FUCK1NG B4TTL3S  
GC: 1F 1T W3R3 L3G4L 1 WOULD H4V3 K1LL3D YOU LONG 4GO  
GC: 4ND 1M TH3 ONLY ON3 T4K1NG TH3S3 1SSU3S S3R1OUSLY SO DONT 3V3N PR3T3ND L1K3 YOU DONT S33 TH1S 4S 4 B1G G4M3  
AG: Says the girl who’s playing dete8tive all the fucking time!  
AG: I came to talk to you a8out our mutual friend Kanaya who I’m really concerned a8out.  
AG: 8ut surprise surprise!  
AG: It’s the fucking Terezi show again!!!!!!!!  
GC: 1M NOT PL4Y1NG D3T3CT1V3  
GC: UNL1K3 3V3RYON3 3LSE 1 4M 4CTU4LLY T4K1NG 4N 4CT1V3 ROL3 1N H3LP1NG K4N4Y4  
GC: WH4T H4V3 YOU DON3 TO H3LP 4P4RT FROM K1DN4P H3R FOR N1N3T33N 4ND 4 H4LF HOURS?  
AG: Don’t point your stu88y little fingers when you have no idea what you’re talking a8out.  
AG: I’ve done more to help than you know!  
AG: The difference 8etween you and I is that I don’t run around screaming with my pathetic strip of police tape I got from a Junior PC Dress-Up kit!  
GC: MY POL1C3 T4P3 1S OFF1C14L!!  
GC: 1 G3T ROLLS 4ND ROLLS OF 1T FROM CL4SS YOU D1MW1T  
AG: You mean you steal rolls and rolls.  
AG: Isn’t that a crime?  
GC: THOS3 TRUST3D 3NOUGH 4R3 4LLOW3D TO T4K3 1T  
GC: 1 GU3SS YOU WOULDNT KNOW TH3 F33L1NG OF TRUST 4ND D3P3ND4B1L1TY WOULD YOU VR1SK4?  
AG: Kanaya trusts me enough to tell me loads of secret stuff she’s kept from you.  
AG: So yeah, I do know the feeling actually!  
AG: And it feels fucking go8d!!!!!!!!  
GC: OH R34LLY  
GC: TH3N STOP BO4ST1NG 4ND T3LL M3  
AG: You’d like that wouldn’t you? ::::)  
GC: UGH F1N3  
GC: BY3 TH3N  
gallowsCalibrator [GC] ceased trolling arachnidsGrip [AG]  
arachnidsGrip [AG] began trolling gallowsCalibrator [GC]  
AG: Hey!!!!!!!!  
AG: Come the fuck 8ack we’re not done talking yet!  
GC: Y34H W3 4R3  
GC: 1 C4NT B3 BOTH3R3D W1TH YOU 4NYMOR3  
AG: W8!  
AG: Pleeeeeeeease.  
AG: I had something really important to discuss with you.  
GC: TH3N WHY H4V3NT YOU S41D 1T 4LR34DY  
AG: 8ecause you were 8eing a massive ass that’s why.  
gallowsCalibrator [GC] ceased trolling arachnidsGrip [AG]  
arachnidsGrip [AG] began trolling gallowsCalibrator [GC]  
AG: Fuuuuuuuuck.  
AG: Uuuuuuuugh!  
AG: St8p!  
AG: This is really tedious.  
GC: 1 W1LL BLOCK YOU  
AG: Don’t ::::(  
GC: 4CTU4LLY WHY D1DNT 1 TH1NK TO DO TH4T B3FOR3  
GC: 1 M1GHT DO 1T NOW  
AG: No!  
AG: This is a8out Kanaya and her safety.  
AG: It’s important and you need to talk to me.  
GC: ST4Y TH3 H3LL 4W4Y FROM H3R VR1SK4  
GC: WH4T3V3R YOUR3 TH1NK1NG OF DO1NG JUST DONT  
GC: B3C4US3 1F YOU L4Y 3V3N ON3 OF YOUR 31GHT SP1NDLY SP1D3R F1NG3RS ON H3R  
GC: 1 W1LL GO DOWN FOR 1T  
AG: Jesus I want to protect her, ok?  
AG: P r o t e c t.  
AG: Not harm.  
AG: 8ut in order for me to really help her I’m going to need your help.  
AG: And 8elieve me when I say that this isn’t my ideal partnership either, 8ut I want to help a friend and I was kind of counting on the fact that you would too.  
GC: SO K4N4Y4 1S 1N D4NG3R  
GC: L1K3 FOR R34L  
AG: Yes, for real.  
GC: WH4T D4NG3R  
AG: Well she told me something pretty sensitive a8out the night she went missing.  
AG: And it would 8e reeeeeeeeally uncool of me to tell you.  
AG: So I can’t tell you exactly why or how she’s in danger.  
AG: 8ut I need you to get into some police files.  
GC: HOLD ON  
GC: YOU W4NT M3 TO SN34K 1NTO 4 ST4T1ON OF TH3 L4W 4ND M3SS W1TH 3V1D3NT14L F1L3S  
GC: THUS R1SK1NG 4 M4X1MUM CUSTOD14L S3NT3NC3 OF TW3NTY Y34RS  
GC: 4ND YOU WONT 3V3N T3LL M3 WHY  
AG: So is that a yes?  
GC: 1TS 4 NO  
AG: Damn!  
AG: 8ut it’s critical that I get those files.  
GC: WHY  
AG: I told you it would 8e really uncool of me to tell you why.  
GC: TH3N 1 C4NT DO 4NYTH1NG.  
AG: Screw you.  
GC: NOW WH3R3 D1D TH4T BLOCK BUTTON GO  
AG: W8 no!  
AG: Oh fine.  
AG: I’ll tell you, 8ut she’s going to 8e so pissed at me so can you try not to mention it to her?  
GC: 1LL B3 TH3 ON3 D3C1D1NG WH4T 1 DO 4ND DONT M3NT1ON  
AG: You have no idea how hard I am 8iting my tongue right now.  
AG: Can you stop 8eing a shit for like one second?  
GC: MY CURSOR 1S ST1LL HOV3R1NG OV3R TH4T BLOCK BUTTON VR1SK4  
AG: Oh you know what, 8lock me all you want!  
AG: You are 8eing impossi8le with all these silly little 8locking threats.  
AG: Like I care if the girl I h8 never talks to me again!  
AG: I’ll help Kanaya myself. I was only asking you 8ecause it would make the process slightly faster, 8ut I can still do it just perfectly on my own.  
AG: Fuck you and f8ck your help!  
AG: What’s that smell Pyrope????????  
AG: I know you can smell it 8ecause you’ve 8een sniffing it for fucking years, ever since I 8linded you in the f8rst place and your nose got so freakishly good!  
AG: Want me to put that rich ar8ma into words for you, dickface?  
AG: It’s the smell of your own ass 8ecause your head has 8een up there so long!  
AG: P8ll it out and come 8ack to reality you deluded fuckwit!!!!!!!!  
AG: God I h88888888 yoooooooou.  
arachnidsGrip [AG] ceased trolling gallowsCalibrator [GC]  
arachnidsGrip [AG] blocked gallowsCalibrator [GC]

Vriska seethed and slammed her laptop shut. The screen and thin keyboard slapped together so loudly that Terezi probably heard it from the next room over, and Vriska hoped she did.

Screw her. There she was, trying to make amends by reaching out as well as attempting to help a good friend, and all that rat cared about was blocking and insulting her! Well fuck her, it’s not like she really needed her help in the first place. She just thought that this would be a cute project for Team Scourge to make a comeback with, but oh well. Tossing her laptop to the side, Vriska grabbed a bag and checked her watch: it read 17:42. That was good, the libraries shut at eight o’clock sharp so she had plenty of time to get geared up and in position.

But then, at 18:27, a forgotten element wandered into the room to see Vriska fully equipped in a tight black body suit, her hair tied back in a (fairly hot) high ponytail and a large dark shoulder bag at her side.

“Where are you going dressed like that?” Kanaya asked, somewhat cautiously.

“Uh, a fancy dress party,” Vriska replied unconvincingly. “I’m a thief, see? I thought it suited me.”

“The outfit is very flattering, I must say,” she commented, looking her roommate up and down. “But I highly doubt you’re going to a party.”

“Why the hell not?”

“Because I can see the edge of bundled rope poking out of your bag,” Kanaya said, pointing to the flashy orange rope that had trailed out of the shoulder bag.

“Oh, you know parties…” Vriska drawled with a nervous smile, shoving the material back into the bag. “Always needing…rope.”

“Definitely, one simply cannot attend without a few metres of the stuff,” she replied with a knowing smile.

They held eye contact for a worrying amount of time, all the while with Kanaya’s left eye brow raised in an unimpressed and expecting manner. Vriska tried to tear her eyes away, but every time she did she was immediately dragged back into the transfixing stare the girl in front of her possessed.

“Oh, fine! Just stop staring at me, you creep.” Vriska finally groaned, causing the both of them to relax their intimidating stances. “I’m going to stay the night at the school because I need to get some things from the teachers’ offices.”

“What kind of things?” Kanaya prompted, leaning forwards now in intrigue.

“Secret things I can’t tell you about because you’ll tell me not to get them,” she rolled her eyes. “I thought you ‘weren’t going to assist me in my ridiculous plan’ or whatever.”

“Oh God, this isn’t to do with revenge, is it?” Kanaya sighed and shook her head. “I told you I don’t want to be avenged, I’d rather try to forget about it all. Besides, breaking into the private offices of our professors is out of line.”

“But I need to get to some police files!” Vriska replied desperately. “Mr Glenshaw works part-time as a police officer so he has a key card. He’s getting so old and careless now that I’ve seen him put the dumb card in his office, free for the taking! It’d be easy as sneaking in, grabbing the key card and sneaking out.”

“You cannot be serious,” she said, jaw descending. “What on earth are these files that you’re willing to do such stupid things for?”

“I don’t want to spoil all the surprises for you,” Vriska said with a flirty wink before turning strikingly sincere. “But I think I know who did that stuff to you that night.”

“Who?”

“I can’t say,” Vriska replied. “Not yet, not until I have official records to back up my theory. What kind of person would I be if I dragged innocent names through the dirt on just a hunch? I’m not Terezi.”

“You know, I think you two are much more similar than you believe,” Kanaya pondered.

“Yuck, don’t even say that. That’s poison in the form of words, Kanaya,” she gagged dramatically. “No, we’re very different. And I’m going to prove it by succeeding where she has failed. I’m going to serve the justice she’s so hungry for, and I’m going to serve it cold!”

“How very cryptic. You have somehow made me want to know exactly what you mean by all of that and at the same time want nothing to do with it.” At that, Kanaya started taking off her boots and pulling off her knee-high socks, laying them neatly on her bed. She unbuttoned her shorts before glancing up for a second to see Vriska’s red, shocked face. “Do you have another one of those costumes or will I have to whip something up myself?”

“W-what?” Vriska stuttered, cursing herself for sounding embarrassingly like that tool Eridan.

“I’m coming with you, obviously,” she answered, shimmying down her cute shorts to her ankles. “I can’t let you endanger yourself on my account. But do remember that this is not assistance, in no way am I helping or encouraging your recklessness, I just want to make sure you’re safe.”

“Um, right.” Vriska said quietly, a little smile creeping across her face.

“So?”

“So what?”

“So do you have a spare outfit?” Kanaya sighed loudly, now standing with her hands on her hips in just her underwear. “You can’t expect me to go like this, can you?”

“Hmm, I don’t know,” Vriska teased, biting her lower lip, feeling braver. “I think you look like the perfect Bond girl for our mission.”

Kanaya responded by throwing a nearby pillow at the girl that managed to strike her midriff. After that she became a lot more cooperative and told her that there was only one black suit. However this was not much of a set-back for a seamstress as great as her, so Kanaya simply cut her black maxi-dress down the middle and sewed the parts separately to create two leg holes. She attached patches of leather wherever she felt was necessary from an old leather jacket she was planning on throwing out, and after just ten minutes Kanaya had created a wonderfully practical (yet sexily stylish) spy suit.

“Wow,” Vriska breathed with a smile. “I am very impressed.”

“It’s nothing,” Kanaya replied modestly, blushing faintly. “I suggest we make our way to the libraries before we run out of time.”

 

***

 

They both made their way over to the university libraries as quickly as possible, long trench coats hiding their peculiar attires from the few students still studying. They chose a section of chairs and pillows towards the back of one of the rooms where they waited until the librarian had called out for the final time that she was locking up.  
They waited about ten minutes before either of them dared to wriggle out from behind a large bookshelf and start speaking.

“Ok, the main building and classrooms shut much earlier and are constantly patrolled by cleaners for hours. That’s why I chose to start here, because by the time we get over to the Law department it should be empty,” Vriska whispered. “but we don’t have long before the soapy lowlifes come here too, so we have to move fast. And really quietly!”

Vriska took off her masking trench coat and readjusted her bag of supplies on her shoulder. Kanaya followed her actions and asked, “How are you planning on getting us from this building to the next? Everything is locked.”

With one hand Vriska rummaged in her bag to retrieve a screwdriver she had packed, and with the other she pointed upwards to a large vent cover.

“Oh,” she muttered. “Oh we can’t crawl in vents, can they even hold our weight? Not to mention that ventilation systems may as well be mazes, do you have a map?”

“Don’t worry about it. I know a girl who does this all the time and she hasn’t died yet,” Vriska whispered nonchalantly. “It’ll be fine, it’s a straight enough route and it’s only to the next building along. The library and Law department share the same ventilation system now due to budget cuts so it’ll be a quick crawl.”

Vriska shoved a chair in position, stood on it and reached up to the vent cover to begin unscrewing it so they could then climb through. Vriska jumped and pulled herself up with ease, making her friend wonder if she did this type of thing regularly. Kanaya’s attempt was less graceful as she waggled her legs to and fro whilst Vriska helped to yank her into the small space above.

Once they were both inside the metal area, Vriska put the cover back into place by using some rope to secure it. The rope wrapped around two bars of the grate and the end of it was attached to a brick that she had also packed and was now acting as a weight to hold the cover up.

“There,” Vriska said, finishing her handiwork. “Now if someone comes in, gets suspicious and decides to check out the vent, when they pull the grate off the brick will fall down and hit them. We’ll be able to hear them yell, giving us the perfect warning as well as extra time to make it out!”

“So you’ve set a booby trap?” Kanaya simplified. “That’s a little brash, don’t you think? We don’t want anyone to get hurt.”

“Don’t think of it as a booby trap. Think of it as a really effective alarm clock.” Vriska replied. “Anyway this is my operation and you’re just along for the ride, so you don’t get a say in the plan of action. Come on, it’s this way!”

Kanaya groaned, looking from the brick to the girl crawling away. She reluctantly tore away from the booby trap and followed the wiggling butt in front of her along the metal passage. Vriska seemed to know where she was going at least, and she made a couple of left and right turns before calling back, “ok I can see where we need to get out!”

The screwdriver was once again in use, but since there was no chair below this time to cushion their fall Kanaya found the jump from the vent to ground rather frightening, even with Vriska going first and then catching her.

Neither of the girls had any reason to have been in this building before since both of their classes were in other areas of campus. Yet somehow Vriska seemed to know exactly where to go, taking Kanaya’s hand and leading her through the many coridoors to finally arrive outside a little wooden door which would usually be overlooked by most.

“This is Mr Glenshaw’s office,” Vriska confirmed, once again digging through that magic bag of hers. “I’ll pick the lock, we get the key card and then we leave.”

Kanaya nodded affirmatively, but continued to nervously keep an eye out in case anyone happened to be strolling around the dark department and stumble upon them.

“Got it,” she said as the lock made a clicking noise. The door creaked open loudly as Vriska tiptoed inside and started looking around the wooden desk. It didn’t take long, though to the on-edge Kanaya it felt like a lifetime, until a plastic card on a lanyard was retrieved from the back of one of the drawers. The card read ‘POLICE OFFICER, Matthew Glenshaw, Warrant No: 012283649371738, Expiry date: 05/07/2018’. There was also Mr Glenshaw’s signature and the bar code that allowed unlimited access to the police station and most legal files on the computers.

“Right,” said Vriska, packing the card safely away in her bag. “Now let’s go back the way…”

“Argh!”

The angry roar rang out above their heads, causing them both to freeze in panic. Kanaya and Vriska looked towards the nearby open vent, their heart rates quickening as they heard the foreboding sounds of a vent cover coming loose and a body falling hard onto the ground.

“Fffff…aah…”

The quiet noise carried the feeling of pain from a person who, they logically determined, had probably just been hit by a brick. Then the noises started to get louder and quicker, little furious grunts and frustrated growls. Stomps of palms slapping the cold metal of the vent. They were coming.

“Go,” Vriska ordered and shoved Kanaya down one corridor. They ran, not caring how much noise their feet now made, the adrenaline just told them to keep moving and not look back. All of a sudden, Kanaya was jerked to a stop by a violent hand grabbing at her skin. She began to shake and squeal until the hand pulled her back even further, twisting her body around to face the person. Kanaya had never been so relieved to see Vriska’s face and have Vriska’s vicious fingers clutching at her arm. She was led down a much smaller, darker lane where the cleaners cupboard and toilets were.

Shutting themselves silently inside the cupboard, trying not to knock over buckets and mops, they watched through the tiny crease in the door as a pair of legs ran past their hiding place. Kanaya let out a small sigh of relief and felt her whole body relax. She almost felt like laughing, bursting out into loud and obnoxious demonstrations of her relief, but she satisfied herself with a big smile which she showed to Vriska. Vriska smiled back, she too was obviously reassured by the sounds of feet running further and further away from the two of them in that small cupboard. The teeniest giggle escaped her lips, causing her to cover her beautiful smile with her hand.

Kanaya smiled even wider simply because the girl next to her was struggling not to let laughter creep out and give them up, but she somehow thought that Vriska’s laughter would fix more than it could ever ruin. She reached up and took her hand, leading it away from her face to reveal the beaming grin yet again. It was only then that Kanaya realised how rare it was to see Vriska smile. A real smile, that is, not a mischievous grin or a playful wink. Vriska never really seemed to smile just because she was enjoying the moment, she was never content with life just the way it was and so she was constantly making her own fun. But this smile was so impossibly natural. And it was beautiful.

Their lips touched.


	11. A Bright Night

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is so late  
> holy shit  
> sorry :( .....................oops

“Stop.” Kanaya leaned back and knelt her head, shielding her face from Vriska’s still lingering lips.

“What’s wrong?” she sighed with passionate sorrow, as if she had just been given a cruel taste of something she had been yearning for for a long time.

“I can’t, I’m sorry,” Kanaya said softly. She dared not gaze up at Vriska’s painful eyes, instead she diverted her own to the clutter of cleaning products surrounding them on the floor. “I don’t like you in that way.”

“But…Kanaya we just…”

“I know.”

“Don’t tell me you didn’t feel anything!” Her voice broke as the words strained their way out of her tightening throat, and the tremble in sound made Kanaya wince. Vriska, remembering they were still supposed to be in hiding, brushed her hand through her messy hair and bit her lip to quiet the wails that were desperate to escape into the open.

“I’m sorry. I truly am. It was a spur of the moment thing, I don’t know why I did it,” Kanaya whispered shakily. “I didn’t mean to confuse you, or toy with your emotions or anything like that.”

“Well you did!” Vriska cried with a twinge of anger, her fiery eyes demanding Kanaya’s attention. “Why did you do that? There must have been a reason! For fucks sake Kanaya, people don’t just kiss their friends for no damn reason. Were you horny or something? Was I just some quickie to get you through the next couple hours until you see Rose?”

“Of course not! What on earth are you implying?” Kanaya spat. “I’ve told you I’m sorry and that’s all I can do. Why are you out to get Rose all the time? Whenever I mention her you always come out with some rude remark about her.”

“I’ve got nothing against Rose, ok?” Vriska rolled her eyes. “Please can we have one conversation that doesn’t revolve around her for once?”

“There you go again!” she announced. “Constant digs and sly insults. She’s never done anything to you.”

“Oh she’s done plenty to me,” Vriska growled. “Just by being alive.”

“Leave her alone from now on,” Kanaya warned. “Or I swear this friendship will not last much longer.”

“Whatever, you’re not that big of a deal to me anyway,” she shrugged. “If you want to part ways then that’s fine by me. You’ve already made your feelings clear enough.”

“I have, but your feelings are still a little blurry to me,” she pressed, slyly. “Why are you so angry? It can’t just be because of Rose.”

“For what it’s worth to you, I may as well have no feelings,” Vriska stated bluntly. “And even if I did, they’d be none of your business.”

“You’re not angry about the kiss are you?” Kanaya asked, her brain starting to click together the jigsaw pieces of the situation. “You’re not…angry that I said it was a mistake?”

“What? Oh hell no, the kiss was disgusting. You are one terrible kisser, you’ve obviously not had much practise,” Vriska replied, arrogantly backing away and making repulsed expressions. “I’m angry because I’m embarrassed, if anything. Don’t you dare tell a living soul about this, I can’t have my reputation getting any more ruined than it already is!”

“Good, well I think I can agree to keep this our little secret,” she said decidedly. “Let’s just get out of this place and go home.”

“Yeah, sounds just perfect to me,” Vriska muttered as she carefully opened the door and listened for any sound of footsteps in the halls.

The two of them crept back towards the vent and into the darkened library, at which point Vriska produced a key from her bag which unlocked the building’s entrance/exit. Kanaya supposed the unfeeling girl had probably mugged the poor librarian of her key a few nights prior and had made a copy of it for easy access to the school building out of hours. She diverted her eyes as the lock clicked open and she swept out into the night air after Vriska.

 

***

 

The next few days were rather awkward after the key swiping and kiss stealing incidents, and what made it worse was the fact that they had to spend each night sleeping next to each other in the same room. Other than that they both attempted to avoid each other as much as possible but not to such an extent that it would cause suspicion. However each remaining roommate came up to Kanaya in turn and questioned the new tension between the pair, but out of respect for the other (but mostly herself) she waved off the concerns as if they were nothing.

Kanaya began pouring herself into her studies more than ever. She figured that she should probably catch up on the work she had been missing, especially since she was beginning to attract the negative attention of her professors. She sighed as she finely stitched a long red skirt on her mannequin made from a piece of sample material handed to her in class. She was going to have to work hard and get some extra credit if she wanted to get back on her teacher’s good side, but for now it was double-assignment galore.

While she was working, Rose wandered in and sat patiently on the bed. “That’s a pretty skirt,” she commented with a smile.

“Mmmff,” Kanaya replied thankfully, the pins being held between her teeth muffling her words.

“I came to ask if you wanted to go out today,” Rose followed on. “You’ve been working exceedingly hard these last couple of days and I thought you may need a distraction.”

“A distraction from what?” Kanaya asked, taking the pins out of her mouth and attaching them to the rim of the skirt.

“From whatever is bothering you right now,” Rose replied. “I can tell something is causing you stress.”

“My stress is primarily due to my increasing workload,” she answered, eyeing her friend. “This is generally what happens when you take it easy for too long in university.”

“Of course, I’m not saying your work isn’t important,” Rose said. “But you’ve been doing nothing but attending class, studying and avoiding Vriska for days. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, they say.”

“I have not been avoiding Vriska,” she muttered. “I’ve simply been busy.”

“Busy avoiding her,” Rose quipped. “Do you want to tell me what’s going on with you two or…?”

“I’d prefer the trailing ‘or…’, thanks,” Kanaya replied.

“Oh come on,” Rose laughed and leant down to nudge Kanaya, causing her to lose her grip on a piece of fabric. “Tell me.”

“I’d really rather not,” sighed Kanaya in exasperation as she reached for the material she dropped. “I agreed to not discuss it with anyone.”

“So something did happen?” she deducted with ease. Upon seeing Kanaya glance down at the floor in response, she detected a hint of something else…was it shame? She couldn’t be sure. “Hey listen, how about I take you out for a meal?”

“Uh, I’m not sure if that…”

“It will be fun!” Rose exclaimed, hopping off the bed and pulling Kanaya to her feet. “Just two friends having a meal. My treat. And you can tell me all about what’s on your mind.”

Kanaya smirked as she held the girl’s hands and found herself shyly agreeing to the arrangement.

“Great,” Rose smiled and lowered their hands before releasing her own. “Shall we leave at about seven? I’ll see if I can book a reservation.”

“Where will we be going?” Kanaya asked as her friend headed towards the door.

Rose swished her head around as she hung on the doorframe. With a playful wink she replied, “I’ll surprise you.”

 

***

 

Kanaya had barely finished making the necessary adjustments to the skirt in time before slipping the new item on and resting it neatly on her hips. It was always important to test handmade clothing, and Kanaya preferred to do that by taking the piece out for a spin. The skirt had a red cotton under-layer that stretched to just above her knee, and the sheer fabric that was delicately placed on top fell like a waterfall which trailed from the shorter length at the front all the way to the flowing train at the back. She then put on a simple long sleeved black top with a scoop neck, short black heels and a gold necklace.

In the mirror she couldn’t help but grin as she bobbed her hips from side to side, watching as her new creation bounced happily along with her.

“Kanaya, are you ready?” A voice called from outside, followed by a light knock on the door.

“Oh right, yes,” she replied, chuckling slightly at her momentary loss of concentration. She walked over and opened the door to see Rose beaming back at her. She had chosen to wear a daringly orange A-line dress with a deep V-neck that brought a certain amount of zest to her overall appearance. It was the type of dress that Kanaya would gag at in a shop window, and possibly even file a complaint regarding damages to her eyes. But against all logic and reason, Rose had somehow made the dress one of the most desirable things Kanaya had ever seen.

“Where did you get that stunning dress?” she asked, gawking at it admirably.

“Oh this?” Rose replied, swinging on her feet a little. “It’s just something I picked up ages ago, I can’t even remember really.”

“Well it’s beautiful,” she complimented honestly.

“Thank you,” Rose returned. “However, here we are standing in the doorway talking about my silly dress when what you are wearing is ten times as ravishing! Is that the skirt you were working on earlier?”

“Don’t be so modest,” Kanaya smiled. “And yes, it is. I finished it quickly and decided tonight was a good time to display it.”

“It’s wonderful,” she said, gazing at the careful stitching around the waist that lightly drew the material in the desired direction. “You’re so talented. I wish I could create amazing clothes out of basic pieces of cloth like you.”

“Perhaps I could teach you?” Kanaya offered. “It’s not that hard with a little practise.”

“Would you?” Rose asked with a trill of excitement in her voice.

“Of course,” she replied. “It would be fun, and I’m sure I would learn a lot from teaching another.”

“I agree that it would be time well spent for the both of us,” Rose confirmed. She then checked her phone before placing it back in her bag and suggesting that they make their way down town.

***

Upon leaving the accommodation block, Rose led Kanaya to a red car that held a somewhat familiar feel to it.

Rose opened the door for her friend to shuffle inside first, and it was only then that Kanaya realised that she was not in a hired taxi.

“Oh, It’s you again,” she said.

“Yeah, whoop-de-do,” a grumble came from the front seat. “What a fucking surprise that I am being exploited as a driver yet again.”

“Really Karkat, don’t be dramatic,” Rose told him as she clipped in her seatbelt and made herself comfortable. “You offered to give us a ride, this is hardly exploitation.”

“I only offered after being verbally threatened by your weird sniffer-hound,” Karkat argued, starting the engine. “I don’t dare repeat the disgusting words that vomited out of her putrid mouth, but I can assure you that they involved a lot of harm to my body and probably my fucking mental health too.”

“Sounds saucy,” Rose giggled.

“Shut the fuck up! Or I swear I’ll stop the car right here in the middle of the road to get ploughed into by whatever heavy vehicles may be speeding towards us. Who cares if we get fucking flattened and our innards graffiti the streets like glorious Banksy artwork? I don’t! Because it would be worth it just to shut you up. It would be a just death that I’d welcome with open fucking arms!” Karkat screamed whilst ironically slamming his foot on the accelerator. He grunted once before saying, “God, it’s not like that ok?”

“Are you sure?” Rose pestered.

“Yes I am sure, I’m not retarded. Can you just drop the fucking subject? You know what, I’ll take the liberty of dropping it. There. Clatter, crash, thud, etcetera. Everything has been dropped.” He sighed and picked at the steering wheel with his fingers subtly. “Don’t pry into a guy’s business, it’s fucking rude. What’s wrong with you, anyway? I thought you were the creepily quiet girls who were entering careers as professional hermits after graduation. You’re acting so weirdly. You’re not drunk are you? Do NOT throw up in my car.”

As Rose assured him that she was sober, Kanaya couldn’t help but consider his observation. He was right, Rose had been acting much more confidently and exuberantly during the last couple of hours. She wondered what could have happened to make her change her behaviour so suddenly. Ordinarily she would assume alcohol was to blame, much like Karkat, but it was also true that Rose had been speaking perfectly articulately and didn’t have a scent of drink on her.

They arrived at the high street not too long later, Karkat’s fury fueling the car's speed. However, instead of stopping outside one of the many expected pizza places, the car pulled up next to a quaint Japanese restaurant which was well known for its incredible menu and frightening prices.

"Oh we can't be going here, can we?" Kanaya questioned.

"This is where our table is booked," Rose informed. "Why, do you have an allergy to seafood?"

"No, but..." she began uneasily, eyeing up the detailed exterior of the legendary restaurant. "Isn't it a tad expensive?"

Rose shrugged and stepped out of the car. "It's fine. My treat."

"Rose I really can't accept that," Kanaya replied with disbelief as she joined her friend on the path. "Can't we go somewhere else?"

"Don't be ridiculous," she said dismissively, studying the menu displayed on the wall. "I said I would pay, so what's the problem? I think you need a break. Can't a girl do something nice for her best friend?"

Bells chimed in Kanaya's head at the sound of being declared a 'best friend'. But she brushed aside the comment to concentrate on the menu that stated that starters ranged from £20 to £35. "I seriously cannot allow you to pay such high prices for me."

"Oh come on," Rose sighed with a smile as she took Kanaya's hand and dragged her inside.

The restaurant smelled of a gorgeous mixture of seaweed, cherry blossom and salt. The interior was the same shade of red as shown outside, but the inside was decorated with endearing Japanese artwork and the waitresses wore traditional kimonos that burst with colour. There were no windows or electric lights, instead hung many beautiful crystal candle holders from the ceiling and there was a delicate lit flame placed on each table for two.

Entranced by the beauty of the place, Kanaya didn't have a chance to argue their leave before a woman in a sky blue kimono trotted over to them and greeted them sweetly. Rose handled the reservation details and soon they were sat face to face on a pretty little table in the fanciest restaurant in the city.

"Shall we share a starter?" Rose suggested, scanning the menu. "I'm not sure I'll be able to eat a whole starter as well as a main course."

"Rose, I..."

"Now are you going to complain all evening or split a cucumber sushi roll platter with me?" Rose said, raising an eyebrow.

Kanaya bit her lip and looked down awkwardly. "I will pay you back."

"Not necessary," she replied. "But we can discuss it later. Drinks?"

The food was amazing, and that's all there really was to say about it. Kanaya had a feeling she wouldn’t eat like that again until she made it big as a designer in about ten years, unless she married rich. Leaning back, she placed a hand on her stuffed stomach and sighed contently, "that was delightful".

"Wasn't it just?" Rose agreed with a smile. "I love the food here, it's just magical."

"Oh?" Kanaya said, catching the familiaraity imbedded in the sentence. "So you eat here regularly?"

"Well, not regularly. Only on the rare occasion when I feel like rewarding myself," she answered sheepishly, as if an embarrassing secret had been discovered.

"I hope you can forgive my prying," Kanaya started. "But how on earth can you afford such expenses?"

"Well, honestly, I'm here on scholarship. So I have money to spare," Rose confessed. "Also I have a few books published, so I get a bit of money from that."

"Wow, really? That's...impressive!" Kanaya replied, quite stunned. "Which books have you written? I'm usually good with books, but I'm sorry I can't recall an author with your name..."

"That makes sense, I wrote it under an alias," she answered modestly. "I have some copies back at home which I'll show you, but it can be a surprise until then!"

"Ok then, I look forward to it!" Kanaya said, though slightly perturbed by Rose wanting to keep it a mystery. She dismissed the greedy want of knowledge and instead chose to laugh. "I'm sorry, I'm just still so surprised by it. I thought perhaps your parents had well-paying jobs or maybe there was some other reasonable explaination. But this is much more interesting!"

Rose chuckled. "My mother isn't rich. And even if she were, she would probably just donate it all to others," she explained. "She used to be a hacker for the government, but she abandoned the job a few years ago to work as a human rights activist. She refuses to tell me why she quit, but I'm guessing she discovered something she didn't want to be a part of. You know what the government is like, after all. My mum is a nice enough person anyway, but we both prefer to sort ourselves out instead of using each other's money."

"That sounds like it could be unhealthy, if I'm perfectly honest," Kanaya commented warily.

"You're probably right, but we like it that way," she said with a shrug. "I mean, it's not like we don't care about each other. We do, but we like to have our own space."

"I suppose your relationship with her is your own business. However, please don't take my questioning as criticism, I'm just interested," Kanaya replied with sweet clarification. "It seems that most people here have intriguing parents and relationships with them. For example, did you know that Feferi’s parents are world famous marine biologists?"

"Your questions are fine, I completely understand. And no I didn't, but I guess that explains her borderline obsession with marine life," she said, taking the last sip from her emptying mug of green tea. "But I think you may be right about the whole parents thing. Terezi told me how her parents are both intensely loyal to each other as life partners as well as career partners, since they work together as detective inspectors. It seems that, like Feferi, she intends to follow in her parents' footsteps."

"I figured she wanted to pursue a career in law," Kanaya nodded. "I just couldn't pinpoint which position; lawyer, detective, legislacerator..."

"Legislacerator?" Rose repeated. "You know those aren't real...right?"

"What do you mean?" she said. "I've heard her use the term many times."

Rose shook her head. "No, no. 'Legislacerator' is the title her old role-playing character held," she explained. "I believe it is something similar to a combination of a police officer, lawyer and executor. All in one."

"Oh...well, now I feel rather silly." Kanaya said, giggling slightly at her own stupidity.

"It's an easy mistake," Rose said, laughing along with her. "She does say it quite a lot. Really, she can't expect everyone to have as much legal knowledge as her!"

"Yes, although I wonder why she always announces herself as one if it's just make-believe." She wondered aloud. "She rejects pretty much anything connected to her past with Vriska."

"I'm not sure. Perhaps she struggles to reject that period of her life entirely?" Rose suggested. "Feel free to ask her if curiosity compels you, but I'd warn against it."

"I think I'd rather not suffer the consequences that that question would bring about." Kanaya winced at the thought of Terezi screaming angrily at her, landing a sharp slap on her cheek and then stomping away madly, never to utter a word to her again. Then again, her imagination may have been running away with her. Hopefully.

"What's going on with Vriska lately anyway?" Rose asked as she flagged down a waitress to ask for the bill. "Did you have a fight?"

"Something like that," Kanaya replied with a deep sigh, raising her shoulders up to her neck uneasily. "Is it that obvious?"

"She's been acting even more moody than usual," she said with an endearing grin that produced a giggle from the other side of the table. "Not only that, but you seem down too. That's why I thought I'd take you out."

"Well I do appreciate it," she replied, feeling tense as she spotted a waitress walking towards their table with what looked to be the bill. "And I will pay you back, really."

"Oh Kan, I told you it's fine," Rose smiled tiredly. "How many times do I have to say it?"

"I know, I just feel like you've done so much for me," she said, blushing. "You'll have to let me do something for you."

"Hey don't forget your promise to give me sewing lessons," Rose reminded her as she typed her pin number into the card machine provided by the waitress. "That can be your payment."

Kanaya smiled, unconvinced but glad to assist in any way possible, even if it was just sewing. "It's a start," she said.

They gathered their things, popped the complimentary mints in their mouths and headed outside. It was a crisp night and Kanaya wished she had brought a coat with her, but the brilliantly clear indigo sky above the two of them seemed to make up for the chill. The girls huddled closer together outside the restaurant, signs and menus glowing behind their shoulders. Their eyes traced the dimly lit road in front of them, but the glaring headlights of Karkat’s angry little car didn't come into view. Rose checked the time and texted him, but got no reply. They concluded that he must therefore be on his way to collect them already. Perhaps there was traffic? As if they had been sharing the same notion, Rose and Kanaya both looked into the distance of the city and took note that the roads did seem quite congested.

"Kanaya," Rose uttered. "Vriska told me about your fight."

"What about it did sh..."

"All of it."

"Oh." Kanaya's lips hung open slightly in light of this news. Then she clenched them shut and turned to her friend who was looking equally on edge. "I want you to understand that there's nothing going on between me and her. It was a mistake on my part. I don't know why I ever did something so ridiculous."

"It's fine, we all do silly things," Rose replied with a smile. "I just thought you should know that I know. I didn't mean to be secretive or anything."

"Don't worry," she said. "Honestly I'm just kind of disappointed in her, that's all. I don't understand why she would tell you sensitive things we spoke about in private."

"She just came out with it," Rose explained. "I mean, I had asked her how she was feeling first, but then she told me the whole story. I think she may have needed to vent."

"The whole story?" Kanaya repeated. "Oh no, so you know what we were doing?"

"Um, in the closet or in the school in general?" She answered. "Because I know both."

Kanaya groaned dramatically, releasing some of the tension that had been building up in Rose. "I can't believe she would do something so crude. I'm sorry you had to hear all that from her."

"Oh no, no, it's fine!" Rose replied light-heartedly. "I understand. In fact, I was almost expecting it."

"Expecting it?" She reiterated. A twinge of surprise flashed into her emerald eyes. "Maybe I was being more patent than I thought. But in all seriousness, my intention was never to lead anyone on and I feel just awful about it!"

"It's perfectly fine," she said with a dismissive wave. "I know you would never do anything like that. But I thought we should still talk about it. That's why I invited you out."

"Really? Well, I suppose talking may be a good idea," Kanaya said thoughtfully. "It would be nice to get everything, all my feelings, out in the open. It's a real drain to stay so composed all the time, actually."

“I completely understand,” Rose said whilst nodding, but her mind seemed elsewhere. As her voice drifted, the crowded cars down the winding lanes increased their racket to drown her out further.

“So,” she said softly, but cautiously. “What do you want to get out in the open?”

“I don’t know, it’s difficult to put into words,” Kanaya sighed. Her fingers brushed away a strand of hair that had fallen in front of her face and she shifted her weight from one hip to the other. “It’s just…hard. Being Vriska’s friend is so hard. I can see that she needs friends, no matter how much she fights or denies it, but she makes it an impossible task. She’ll drag me along to parties and break-ins and never gives a second thought to what I might want to do. Her rivalry with Terezi makes the atmosphere in the whole apartment horrible, and it’s even putting a strain on my relationships too. But I can’t just abandon her. As bad as she is, I can tell there’s a good person under all that arrogance and impulsivity. If I were to leave her something terrible would happen, I just know it. So I can’t and I won’t but that also means I’m trapped. And now this strange thing has happened between us so I’ve not only confused her but I’ve also confused myself because I don’t know how she feels and therefore I don’t know how I should feel based on how she feels! I don't know if she hates me, loves me, a mix of both, I have utterly no idea! And so I'm just completely in the dark about everything, even my own life, and I'm being led around by people who are equally as hidden to me, but who else am I supposed to trust? I have zero control over my life and that fact absolutely terrifies me!”

Kanaya exhaled deeply and focused on steadying her heart rate which had been racing to keep up with her stressed and anxious mind. Rose smiled sympathetically at her and reached out to rub her shoulder, allowing her a minute to recover.

“Yes, she does seem quite…difficult,” she agreed. “To put it lightly.”

“I just don’t know where I stand with her,” Kanaya frowned forlornly. “Sometimes she does and says things like she hates me, but then other times she seems to crave me.”

“Well,” Rose replied gently. “At least there are others whom you know definitely love you.”

Kanaya released a skeptical laugh, her breath breaking into the cold air with a cloud of freezing mist. “Sure”.

It was at this moment that Kanaya’s confusion only broadened its reach. With her mind still whirring over Vriska and the events that had transpired over the last few days, she never expected those same thoughts and feelings to awake yet again like unwelcome squatters in her head and heart. Rose had taken the quick step forwards before Kanaya could fully react. But, strangely, she found herself sinking into the kiss in a way which was different from before. Where Vriska had felt strong and passionate, Rose felt serene and soft. Where Vriska had felt fast and exciting, Rose felt peaceful and yet breathtaking. Kanaya closed her eyes and ignored the screeching alarms of sirens as police cars sped past them along the main road. Of course, in that moment she had no idea that those cars were zooming off towards the student accommodation in which she lived. Instead Kanaya was discovering some different, though arguably more important, information; the difference between lust and love.


	12. A Purple Carnation

Karkat never arrived that night, no matter how many times they called. Eventually, and unfortunately, both of their phones died after an excessive amount of power had been drained due to the many failed attempts at contact. And so they were reluctantly forced to walk back home in the dark.

Kanaya clutched at Rose’s arm as they walked through the strangely quiet streets, but cars and people could always be heard making a noisy ruckus from behind nearby corners and behind mysteriously closed doors. As they began weaving through the grim, damp alleyways and towards the direction of the park, Kanaya began to feel a sickness deep within her stomach that she couldn’t fully explain.

“What’s wrong?” Rose asked, noticing that her friend had slowed down her pace considerably. “Are you scared of the dark?”

“Quite the contrary,” she replied confidently, before letting her voice grow shallow. “It’s just that I don’t really feel…safe. That’s all.”

Understanding, Rose smiled sympathetically and took ahold of one of Kanaya’s cold hands that was gripped tightly around her upper arm. Warming the girl’s fragile fingers with her own palm, Rose pulled her closer into the space by her side. “It’s ok,” she said softly. “I’m here.”

Together, they edged their way around the dreaded corner of the park where Kanaya had laid unconscious on the floor just a few weeks ago. She let out a massive sigh of relief as they turned onto the path next to the main road and left the mouldy greenery behind them. Now the accommodation block was in sight. And so were a hell of a lot of red and blue lights. The girls exchanged a concerned glance before worriedly jogging the last few metres up to the gates of the apartments, only to discover that the police cars had no business to attend to at their dormitories, instead their attention was purely focused on the crooked little house that stood on the opposite side of the street. As they slowed to a walk, eyes pinned on the commotion in front of them, they wandered up to the small crowd of students that had dared to get a closer look instead of merely peering out of their bedroom and kitchen windows.

“Oh, you guys made it back alright,” Terezi remarked, noticing the two and beckoning them over. She turned around to some others and yelled, “hey Karkat! They’re here!”

“Well thank fuck for that,” a loud voice groaned. Karkat Vantas shuffled over to the others with an angry, yet mildly concerned, expression.

“And where were you at the agreed time?” Rose inquired with slight irritation.

“I was here, obviously,” the boy grumbled. “You’re not fucking retarded like Terezi, you can see the road, can’t you? Yeah, so if you look to your left you will see a massive congestion of not one, not five, but eight police cars! They’re all squashed together in front of that God damned tiny house and have shut down the roads, so it would’ve been near impossible for me to manoeuvre my car around them even if I was allowed leave the car park.”

“Karkat, I’m pretty sure you’re allowed to leave if you simply ask one of the officers to open the barrier for you,” Kanaya informed him. “It isn’t an especially difficult task.”

“I’m sorry, do you want to be the irritating dick puller that bugs the police and distracts them from their work?” he growled. “If so, then be my guest. But in case you haven’t noticed, they all seem pretty fucking busy with some serious shit that we probably shouldn’t be interfering with.”

“I suppose,” Rose mumbled. “But couldn’t you have called? We waited approximately forty five minutes for you in the cold.”

“Alright, I apologise, ok? Is that what you want to hear?” Karkat said, throwing his hands into the air. “I apologise for getting blocked in by a fuck ton of police cars, I apologise for running out of credit on my phone, I apologise for not being able to find anyone else with a working phone that they’d be willing to lend to a stranger for five fucking seconds. I apologise!”

“You have a pay as you go phone?” Rose said. “Honestly Karkat, just get a contract.”

“We are not having a discussion about my phone services and bills,” he groaned loudly. “As ridiculous and in need of serious attention as they are, I think there are more important matters to take care of first. Namingly, the honey pot for police that is the house across the street.”

The small group took another opportunity to stare at the clamour surrounding the house opposite them. It was such a tiny house that Kanaya didn’t often pay attention to it when she left the area in the mornings, but she had to admit that it had always given her the creeps. Maybe it was the crumbling paint that made the place look like a decaying shell, or perhaps it was the slightly sloping walls that made the entire house look strange and unnatural. But if she were to be completely honest with herself, it was probably something to do with the fact that this was the house that had accumulated the most flowers at its flimsy door after Tavros’s death.

“Huh, I don’t know about honey but you might be right about the ‘pot’ part,” a voice commented. They turned to see Sollux striding over to them casually, hands in pockets.

“Oh wonderful, it’s this douchebag,” Karkat declared.

“Don’t you like each other?” Kanaya asked with discontent. “But you live in the same dorm, how unfortunate.”

“Just because two people live in the same building does not mean that they like each other,” Karkat snarled.

“Agreed,” Terezi added with a sincere nod. Kanaya was pretty sure that, if it were even possible, the girl was probably rolling her eyes behind the large red shades.

“Anyway, it’s not like we even hate each other or anything,” Sollux said nonchalantly. “Karkat just can’t deal with the emotional shit of calling someone a friend, so he insults everyone to keep them at a distance before he can be rejected.”

“What the actual fuck, Captor!” Karkat exclaimed loudly, his blood obviously beginning to simmer. “Just because some of us don’t have warped ideas about what the insane and pointless emotion of friendship actually is, it doesn’t mean that you can just shit all over them with bullshit statements like that! You’re so fucking full of yourself, it’s hard to even comprehend the level of arrogance you’ve reached. Just cut it out, we all know it’s a big performance and in reality you fucking despise yourself. Why don’t you just fuck off back to your ‘gillfriend’ or whatever and stop exhaling your gross carbon dioxide into our air space, you retarded fuckwit!”

“Ha, gillfriend, that’s pretty funny,” Sollux chuckled, apparently unperturbed by the boy’s outburst. “No need to blow your shit though, I get it. I’ll leave you to your friendlessness or whatever you want. I just thought you guys might actually be interested in what’s going on over there?”

As Sollux gestured over to the flashing lights, Terezi asked, “You know what’s happening?”

“Sure, everyone knows that that place is a crack house,” he explained. “It’s about time it finally got busted.”

“A crack house has been within metres of student accommodation and no one thought to alert the authorities?” Kanaya asked in disbelief.

“I’m pretty sure some professors have even paid a visit to that guy every now and again,” Sollux replied with a grin. “Everyone needs a fix sometimes.”

To this, Rose rolled her eyes. “Well then, I’m sure some real authoritative intervention is long overdue,” she said, matter-of-factly.

“Nothing like a bit of legal action to restore order,” Terezi agreed, rubbing her hands together in a somewhat maniacal way which made the others feel slightly uncomfortable.

“Still, do drug busts usually have this many officers?” Rose asked, gazing around at the scene. “There’s so many the whole department may as well be down here.”

“I don’t know, it sounds like there are about twenty officers or so. I suppose that is quite a lot, but you can never be too careful when facing large drug raids,” Terezi warned.

At that moment a powerful roar erupted from the house across the street. Students fell silent, the police moved in and everyone watched in awe as the drug lord they all knew so well was dragged out of the doorway kicking and screaming.

“Gamzee?” Kanaya uttered. The others nodded with quiet sincerity, as if they had known this fact all along.

The boy howled and wailed like an injured animal as he was restrained by at least six officers and carried towards the nearest police car. One officer desperately tried to clamp Gamzee’s wrists together in order to throw on some well-needed handcuffs, but to no avail. By this point the boy was in a frenzy. His eyes darted, his head thrashed, his limbs flew, his torso jolted, his mouth shrieked and spat. Had this monster ever been a man?

Other officers ran to help as Gamzee made a break for it when being thrown into the back seat of the car. He was tackled immediately but punched and scratched those pinning him down as much as possible in any hope of escape. It wasn’t until he was tasered, and his striking movements were reduced to an electrifying quiver that he was finally pacified enough to be placed inside the vehicle.

 

***

 

The lights were still flashing and the potted marijuana was still being transported from the house to police vans in translucent evidence bags hours later when Rose and Kanaya had changed into their pyjamas and were watching the aftermath from Rose’s window.

The best view of the scene would have been from any of the other bedrooms, honestly. But Kanaya still wasn’t fully confident around Vriska quite yet, and even if she were it would make the situation much worse to have Rose present in the room too. They could have always chosen to watch the spectacle with Terezi and Feferi in their room, however they decided they would prefer to have their privacy.

They both knelt on Rose’s purple duvet and stared out at the view which was becoming increasingly familiar and boring as the minutes dragged on, so it was hardly surprising that their eyes had started to wander. It had started when Kanaya’s eyes drifted away from the artificial lights on the ground and up to the beautiful beads of light in space that covered the night sky. The stars were dazzling that night, but the delicate shimmer that shone down through the window upon the girl next to her was even more exquisite. Rose was also looking at the stars, her face lit up and with her eyes sparkling like gems, she smiled. Kanaya smiled too, wondering what she could possibly be imagining whilst gazing up towards infinity. She rested so perfectly and delicately against the window sill, her short blonde hair wisped around her cheeks as she rested her chin on her arms. Even her clothing, as simple as it was, looked divine; the purple shorts were endearingly juvenile with sweet little white squiddles decorated on them, and Kanaya had a feeling that they may had been some childhood clothing she had yet to grow out of and so was being guilt-tripped into wearing them by an overgenerous mother. The vest top was a little more mature, still matching the same purple colour but this item entertained only a subtle black bow at the top of the V-neck which matched the black frilly rim. The vest flowed over her, the shorts were slightly tighter, both pieces were perfect.

“Hm?”

Kanaya blinked at the noise and looked up to see that Rose had been watching her stare at her body alluringly for the last ten minutes.

“Oh! I…” Kanaya stammered in reply. “Just so you are aware, I wasn’t….”

Rose laughed as the flustered girl started to turn red. “It’s fine, Kanaya,” she said with a comforting smile.

“I was just…admiring your outfit, that’s all,” she muttered with a twinge of embarrassment.

“I didn’t know my old pyjamas were so tantalising that they could captivate an unsuspecting fashion student,” Rose chuckled and gave a playful wink. “Sorry, I can’t control the charm.”

“Ah well, as long as you tried,” Kanaya smiled. “But I believe it is too late for me. I have already been sucked into the mesmerising hold of the squiddles, and now there is no possible way out.”

“So you’re entranced, are you?” Rose asked amorously, turning to face Kanaya head-on. “Trapped?”

With that, she spontaneously wrapped her arms around Kanaya’s waist and swung the girl around to the left, slumping her down on the bed whilst they both giggled.

Kanaya lay on her back, nestled in the duvet, a beaming smile on her face. Rose couldn’t help but laugh either as she leaned over the girl, one arm on either side of Kanaya’s blushing face to hold herself up and with her blonde hair swishing down in front of her eyes. Kanaya reached up and tucked away both sides of the soft hair behind Rose’s ears before letting her arms trail further around the back of her neck. She dragged her down slowly into another kiss as Rose’s elbows bended gradually to lower herself on top of the beautiful girl. Wrapping around each other, they kissed and talked for hours until even the lights from outside had dwindled away into nothingness, and eventually they both drifted off to sleep together.

 

***

 

Kanaya’s eyes fluttered open as a thin beam of sunlight stretched out and touched her cheek. She yawned and felt around her, forgetting for a moment that she was in another room. Upon realising that she was alone in the bed, she sat up to see Rose quietly looking through her bookcase just a few paces away.

“Good morning,” she said lightly, rubbing her eyes and brushing her messy hair out of her face.

“Oh, hello,” Rose returned, spinning around at the sound of her awakened friend. “I’ve not long been up myself, but I thought I would let you rest.”

“Thank you, but I wouldn’t have minded being awoken by you,” Kanaya replied with a bashful smile. “What are you doing?”

“I am simply trying to find one of the books,” she explained. “You know, the ones I told you about? The ones I wrote?”

“Oh of course,” she said. “Yes, I’ve been looking forward to reading them for quite some time.”

“You don’t even know what they are yet,” Rose reminded her.

“I don’t have to,” Kanaya replied. “If they are written by you then I am sure they’ll live up to my highest expectations.”

Rose smiled in response and continued pulling books off the shelves and peeking around various other trinkets she had, such as snowglobes and Japanese puzzle boxes, in the vain attempt to find the books she desired.

After a while she eventually called out, “ah! Here’s one, at least.”

Rose tugged out a large hardback book which had a black and white checked dust cover over the top of it like a chessboard. She plonked the heavy load of literature onto the bed next to Kanaya and opened it to the first few pages to display the plain title page: ‘Complacency of the Learned by Rose Lalonde’.

“This is one of the rare copies printed with my real name,” Rose developed. “There are exactly ten first edition copies that were printed with my name as personal keepsakes, and all reside in my possession.”

“You…wrote this?” Kanaya muttered quietly.

“Yes.”

“You,” she looked up and stared into Rose’s eyes. “Wrote this book?”

“Um, yes,” she answered somewhat uneasily. “Among other things of course, but this is the only book of mine that I brought to university, I think. I just couldn’t bring myself to leave it behind, to have it a whole ocean away from me.”

Kanaya didn’t respond.

“I understand if you think I’m bragging,” Rose sighed and shook her head. “I’m sorry, this was a mistake.”

She leant down to grab the book and put it back on the shelf, but before she was able to Kanaya gripped her wrist and held her still.

“Rose,” she said in a low tone. “This is possibly the best book ever written.”

“Really?” Rose asked, taken aback by her friend’s reaction.

“Of course,” she gasped, placing a hand on her heart almost as if she had been personally offended. “It may as well be a modern classic! I have read it countless times, it is simply one of my favourite pieces of literature. Showing me this is in no way bragging, you should be proud!”

“I guess so,” Rose replied modestly. “It’s just that a lot of people in the past have found me arrogant. Once they discover this about me, I’m usually cast aside as someone who thinks they’re better than everyone else just because I wrote some fucking words on a page.”

“Now don’t get upset!” Kanaya said, rubbing Rose’s fidgeting hands to calm her. “Really, anyone who treats people like that must be bad news anyway, you should be glad to be rid of them. It doesn’t matter to me how many bestselling novels you have written, you’re still the same beautiful girl in my eyes. If anything, this revelation has only made me admire you more!”

“Admire me?” she repeated with a laugh. “There’s no need for that. I’m the one who should be admiring you!”

“Why on earth is that?”

“Well I may have written a successful book, but that is only one accomplishment that I will probably struggle to better in the future,” Rose explained. “Whereas you are one of the top of your class, have a real talent for fashion and have tons of potential. You are bound to do something amazing with your life, and so I am merely admiring you in advance.”

“I don’t know about that,” she answered sheepishly. “Anyone can do what I can, it just takes practise. Oh that reminds me, I was going to teach you, wasn’t I?”

Rose nodded and Kanaya suggested that, since they both had time to kill, now would be an ideal time to get started. She stood up and left the room to go and retrieve some basic sewing supplies.

 

***

 

Feeling weirdly uneasy, she opened her bedroom door. The lights were off and the curtains drawn, it was quite dark but she could still see the amazing mess on the floor of dice, clothes, paper, etc. Kanaya sighed and switched on the light, only to jump back in surprise as Vriska Serket became visible to her sitting deadly still on the bed.

“Vriska!” She gasped. “You frightened me half to death.”

“Did I?” Vriska replied huskily. “I guess you forgot that I existed or something.”

Kanaya lowered her brow and said, “and what is that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing,” she answered coldly, her sunken eyes staring in a fixed position. “Why are you back here anyway? Leave something behind?”

“I was simply getting some sewing materials for Rose,” Kanaya replied, slowly walking over to her desk.

“Oh of course,” Vriska spat. “More stuff for Rose. How stupid of me to think you’d come to see me for once.”

Kanaya took one metal tin of supplies out from the drawer and loudly crashed it upon the desk. “I’ve told you before that I will not stand here and listen to you besmirch Rose. If you wish to take an issue with whom I choose to spend my time with, then you take it with me. Understood?”

“Perfectly, Maryam. I understand just fine.” She growled. “I just expected a little more thanks after all I’ve done for you. I figured that by now I might be worth more than a measly second of your fucking precious time.”

“All that you have done for me?” Kanaya let out a laugh. “If I recall, all you’ve done for me is get me tied up in things I would rather stay out of.”

“Oh, you don’t even know,” Vriska snarled, but Kanaya thought she saw a hint of a smile there for a moment. “You don’t even know the lengths I’ve gone to, what I’ve done, all to help you!”

“What, you’ve taught me how to be brave by throwing me into terrifying situations?” She replied, still laughing spitefully. “You’ve taught me how to lie? How to isolate myself? You have done nothing for me. I am the one who has been helping you, Vriska.”

“I don’t need your help. I never have, and never will!” she shouted, jolting forwards and moving for the first time since Kanaya had walked in. “I’ve made it this far on my own, who says I can’t go a bit further?”

“Sure, feel free to keep running blindly through life,” Kanaya said as the front door gave a distant knock. “Stay the way you are and you will see exactly what I mean. Your life will fall apart if you continue to live like this, and you will destroy others’ too!”

“I HELP others! Maybe you’re too dumb to see it, but I’m the one who fixes all your shit,” Vriska yelled. “I mean, do you really think you’d be with Rose right now if it weren’t for me?”

“I’m not with…”

“CAN IT!” she screamed. “You’d be lost without me. You like Rose, right? And she likes you! How fucking great, you’d be perfect for each other! But you’re both too big a dork to do anything about it! You constantly need my prodding and goading and attention, otherwise you’d be stuck in your boring little comfort zone for the rest of your life. Honestly, do you really think either of you would have made a move if I hadn’t have stepped in? If I hadn’t told Rose that you told me about your cutsie little crush, do you think she’d be paying you the slightest bit of romantic attention? The answer is no, Kanaya. Because I control everything. I’m like the puppet master of a collection of broken strings which I alone have to fucking fix. You don’t have any idea of the trouble I’ve gone to for you.”

Stunned, Kanaya couldn’t reply immediately. It took a few seconds before she managed to conjure the words, “you told Rose I…liked her?”

Vriska only crossed her arms grumpily in reply, but the information was already out.

“Kanaya!” Feferi screeched from outside. “It’s for you!”

Unable to tear her eyes away from Vriska, she indolently called back, “what?”

“The door, silly!” the high pitched voice yelled back.

“I will be with you in a few moments,” Kanaya replied. “Tell whoever it is to wait.”

“But it’s the police!”

Both girls’ eyes flicked towards the bedroom door and then back at each other again. As reluctant as she was to leave this conversation unfinished, Kanaya knew that for whatever reason the police had arrived, it was probably worth more of her time than this disgusting excuse for a friend.

She scowled once more at Vriska before leaving the room and walking towards the male and female officers in the doorway.

“Kanaya Maryam?” the woman asked, checking her notebook.

“Yes?”

“We would like to talk to you down at the station,” she said. “Don’t worry, you’re not in trouble. We just want to clarify a few things with you regarding your report five weeks ago.”

“Oh,” Kanaya replied, recognising the time zone and determining that this must be something to do with what happened to her that night after clubbing. “Of course.”

 

***

 

She was driven to the station, told to fill out a few forms and then sat in a small room. The room had two chairs on her side of the plain desk, and three on the other side. She attempted to distract herself with the various leaflets about crime and deviance that were placed in a plastic holder on the wall, preferring not to think too much about how the last time she was in this room was the time she was told that she had been raped.

Her foot tapped nervously and she fidgeted with her sleeve as the same officers that came to her door walked in, joined by the uncomfortably familiar councillor she had met once before. After shuffling a few notes and going over some of the basic details of her report, one officer asked, “do you remember anything else of that night that you would like to tell us now?”

Kanaya shook her head. The professionals all exchanged brief glances before settling their papers on the desk and making strangely pacifying eye contact, which made her squirm in her seat a little.

“Kanaya, we called you here because there have been new developments in your case. We currently have a man in custody who is a strong suspect for your rape, among other crimes. We are hoping to bring him to trial at the Crown Court in approximately one to two months, but we always inform the victim of this first before the media have a chance to hear.”

“Um, Ok,” she answered uneasily.

“We know this must be very difficult for you,” the councillor chimed in, soothingly. “But you have the full support of the Husscity Police Department as well as access to psychological aid. So if you’re feeling stressed or overwhelmed then please visit and arrange a counselling appointment, free of charge.”

“Yes,” the male officer said. “If there is anything we can do to help then tell us, your wellbeing does come first.”

She nodded.

“Would you like to hear the name of the suspect?”

She paused. Of course she wanted to know, but at the same time she didn’t. As much as she would find peace in finally having more information about that night, she had been saying that she wanted to forget the entire ordeal since the beginning. Then again, she wondered if she even had a choice. This was a formality. If she didn’t hear it now then it would only be a matter of time before the local newspapers published a story, rumours arose and the whole campus knew. “Yes,” she said.

“Our suspect for this case is a young man named Gamzee Makara, who was arrested last night at approximately 11:50pm at his residence.”


	13. Truth in Action

There was little discussion over Gamzee Makara’s bail as he was quickly placed into police custody after being considered too dangerous to be allowed to wander the streets. Despite the significance of the crimes he had been arrested for, the earliest point his trial could be arranged for was a couple of months later in the early days of March.

Although the calendar deemed them to be approaching the end of winter, this year the cold had been particularly stubborn and so frost lingered on curbs and car windows even now as Kanaya made her way down to the Crown Court. Looking down, her red shoes stepped carefully one in front of the other on the cold pavement. That’s right Maryam, just keep moving. An arm wrapped around the waist of her black coat, awakening her from her daze.

“It’ll be fine,” Rose said with a smile that she couldn’t help but return. “You have nothing to worry about, remember? You’re the victim here.”

“I know,” she replied, taking her own arm and putting it around her girlfriend’s waist too. “It’s just going to be hard. Talking about what happened, I mean.”

“Yes, it probably will,” she sighed. “But I know you can do it.”

Kanaya gave a subtle nod. She turned to Rose with a witheringly courageous look, before Rose smiled in reply and pulled her closer towards her, almost causing Kanaya to trip as she giggled slightly.

But the laughter soon subsided as they reached the doors of the Husscity Crown Court. Though hesitant, the two of them shuffled inside the uncomfortably quiet building and checked in at the front desk. They were directed down the hall until Kanaya was met with one of the ushers and guided in a different direction, while Rose was told to find a seat in the public gallery.

At first Kanaya thought that the terrifying wait in tense silence for the trial to begin was the worst part. Then the judge strode in with her intimidating stature, and every person stood in the trained obedience they’d learned from watching too many TV shows. Gazing up at the all-powerful woman on her podium stage with that solid hammer at the ready to deliver judgement…that was when Kanaya knew that she hadn’t even began to taste the full course of fear she would be served that day.

 

***

 

The jury was introduced, initial reports read out, and then the cross-examination commenced with possibly the most anticipated person in the room.

“We call Gamzee Makara to the stand, Your Honour,” the prosecution announced.

Gamzee slowly stood up and made his way over to the witness box before slumping down.

“Please stand to take your oath, Mr Makara,” the Judge sighed, apparently already exasperated.

“Oh, right,” he replied with a lazy grin. “Sorry, I’m not all up and used to this kind of thing yet.”

“Do you swear that the evidence you give in court, shall be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God?”

“Sure brother, I swear it.”

“Take a seat,” the lawyer instructed, shuffling his papers. “Now Mr Makara, you are firstly being tried for the possession of cannabis with the intent to supply. Is it true that you are a regular user of this drug?”

“Well I would be lyin’ if I told you I didn’t take a bit of the healing herb every now and again,” Gamzee replied, still smiling. “Can a brother ask what you all mean by ‘regular’?”

“Do you use the drug numerous times a week, Mr Makara?” he reiterated.

“Back when I was at home and free to do what I want and all that I’d take a couple puffs of it every day, take a break every hour or so,” he answered. “Haven’t had any in a while though. My brothers and sisters down in the party prison, you know the one I’m all up and talkin’ about right? The one I’m crashin’ at until all this biz is sorted. Yeah well they all suggested I don’t take it anymore, said it’s jacking up my gut system and shit. So I…”

“Yes, yes, we are all aware that cannabis isn’t readily available while in custody,” the prosecution interrupted. “If you could please just answer the questions we pose without diverging from the topic that would be helpful. Also if you could refrain from any foul language?”

“Oh I’m sorry, didn’t mean to offend anyone or hurt their motherfucking feelings,” Gamzee replied. Then, after a couple of seconds, he slapped his palm against his head and said, “Aw there I go again. I’m sorry, I really am, it’s a bad habit.”

“You seem to take up quite a few bad habits, Mr Makara,” the lawyer said, looking through his notes again. “It says in the police report that an incredible one hundred and sixty two marijuana plants were recovered from your residence, along with over one thousand grams of the plant ground up into individual packets. I ask, did you plan on using all these illegal drugs for personal use only?”

“I don’t know, I’m not the type of guy to turn away a brother in need,” Gamzee said with that same relaxed smile.

“So are you admitting that you intended to supply these drugs to others?”

“If people are gonna ask me to share then I don’t see any reason to be opposin’ them,” he confirmed. “Sharing is caring. Gotta share those miracles with others, let them feel the magic so we can all chill together.”

“The effects of drugs aren’t miracles I’m afraid, Mr Makara. I would have thought you would be familiar enough with the substance to know this,” the prosecution lawyer commented, studying his papers again. “After all, you have quite a history with the drug; it says here that you have already been convicted for the possession of marijuana and given community service for the offence in July of 2012.”

“I don’t really all remember that, If I’m a be honest with you,” he shrugged.

“Perhaps the effects of the drugs have tainted your memory,” the lawyer suggested. “Have they?”

“Objection! That was a leading question, Your Honour,” the defence chimed.

“Please rephrase your statement,” the Judge ordered.

“Of course, Your Honour. My apologies,” the man stepped back a little, took a breath, and then turned to face the accused again. “What I mean to say, is that after your previous conviction in 2012, did you start smoking cannabis again?”

“I told you I can’t remember it to begin with,” he replied. “But I can’t remember a time back when I wasn’t taking it no more, so I guess you’re probably right about whatever you’re saying.”

“Mr Makara, do not answer a question if you do not understand what you are being asked,” the lawyer sighed. “I will ask you again in simpler terms: firstly, were you using cannabis steadily in 2012?”

“Sure I guess so,” Gamzee said. “I don’t remember not having it around ever since I was a kid, and I definitely can’t recall all up and stopping at any time.”

“However, it says in the report of your previous conviction that you were given a drugs test every month to insure your abstinence from all types of illegal drugs. You should have a copy on your desk, Your Honour,” the prosecution lawyer noted. “And it also says that you passed all these tests. This is proof that you, Gamzee Makara, were clean of any illegal pharmaceuticals for six whole months. But you have no recollection of this, or even the conviction itself?”

“Uh, no, brother,” he answered uneasily. “Sorry, I must be rusty in that part of my memory or something.”

“Research shows that frequent cannabis use can have detrimental effects on memory, and if the court has official government proof of an event that the accused cannot remember at all, I think it would be fair to say that Mr Makara may be particularly affected by this side effect and the jury should take this into consideration.” The prosecution informed, glancing over to the twelve members of the public sat at the side of the room. “This moves us smoothly onto the second crime you are being tried for: the abduction and rape of Miss Kanaya Maryam.”

“I’ve told all of you already,” Gamzee said, the smile sliding off his face. “I didn’t take anyone any place, and I certainly didn’t do any of that nasty stuff you’re all up and accusin’ me of doing.”

“Are you saying that you did not carry out the abduction and rape of Miss Maryam,” the lawyer asked with a wry grin. “Or that you do not remember it?”

“I…” for a moment he was stunned, staring at the well-groomed man in front of him who had neatly cornered him. A few quiet seconds passed in the court room before the boy’s eyes flashed red with a rage that Kanaya recognised from the night he was arrested. Suddenly he sat up and pounded a fist on the wooden bar in front of him. “Didn’t I just tell you motherfuckers I had nothing to do with this shit?”

“Language please, Mr Makara,” the lawyer nervously replied. He gave a fleeting cough before going on to say, “we have witness testimonies reporting that the victim was seen being recovered from your home the morning after the attack. Do you care to explain?”

“I don’t know anything about that,” he growled. “If it was in the morning I was probably still asleep.”

“Witnesses report seeing Vriska Serket taking an unconscious Kanaya Maryam from your house to their accommodation block across the street,” the lawyer told. “Are you saying that you were unaware of either woman being in your house between the hours of Miss Maryam’s disappearance and her return the next morning?”

“My house is always crowded, the more the merrier. I don’t keep track of all the friends who crash at my place on the daily,” Gamzee said. “Have you tried checking in with my brothers and sisters? See if they all up and spied those two in the party house?”

“You may remember, Mr Makara, that on the night of the attack you were the only resident currently staying in your house,” he informed. “The police questioned the people found squatting in your residence on the night of your arrest, and they have confirmed that they were all either removed from the residence or turned away at the door on the very night of Miss Maryam’s attack. I ask you this; why, on the reported first incident that this has ever happen, did you wish to keep your house empty on this specific night?”

“I didn’t turn away anyone. All are welcome, that’s one of my chill rules,” Gamzee insisted. “I told you I was sleeping, so I can’t exactly tell you about shit I never saw.”

“Mr Makara please try to refrain from foul language, I will not warn you again.” The lawyer reminded him with a scowl. “So you claim to have slept throughout the entire event, and you offer no alibi?”

“Now I didn’t all up and say that, did I? I’ll tell you like I told my pals in the police and what’s all written on those sheets of paper you’re holding,” he said. “I was awake and in town that night. And I all rested my eyes on the spider sister with that Kanaya girl who was lookin’ like she’d taken one puff of the magic smoke too many, you know what I mean?”

“Yes, you did tell the police that you saw Vriska Serket and Kanaya Maryam together that night, and Miss Serket confirms that she saw the two of you as well,” the lawyer approved. “However there are also a number of witnesses who claim to have only seen you with Miss Maryam, as well as photographic evidence of the two of you together provided by an anonymous tip.”

“I was only there for a second and then they left. So I don’t know how any pictures of me and that girl all up and started existing like, it was probably a miracle or something.” Gamzee smiled.

“It’s more likely that it was ‘something’ rather than the former,” the lawyer suggested somewhat bitterly. “If you were only there for a second and didn’t see her again, then how is it that so much of her DNA was found in your basement?”

“Maybe she took a visit some other time? I can’t remember every face that all happens to hang around me and what times they be coming and going,” he suggested.

“Miss Maryam has told the police that she has no memory of ever stepping inside your house, before or after the night in question,” he countered. “She also has no memory of the night of her attack, but that is due to the concoction of cannabis and rohypnol found in her blood stream. Both of these substances were also found in your house.”

“I told you man, people and things are always gatherin’ at my place. How am I supposed to be helpin’ what stuff of other peoples’ you find?” Gamzee questioned lazily. “Kanaya seems like a pretty cool sister, and I swear I’d do nothing to hurt her all on purpose or nothing.”

“Yes, you do seem quite fond of Miss Maryam,” the prosecution responded. “Could it be that you are fond enough to have stalked the victim? We have statements from professors saying that you attended her classes on Fashion Design despite majoring in Entertainment Management.”

“Can’t a brother have a hobby?”

“It’s a suspicious hobby that has a very close relation to the victim,” the lawyer pressed. “Most amateurs in a new field of interest would never consider sneaking into seminars and lectures to learn about the subject at degree level.”

“It was something to do,” Gamzee snarled. “I’m all up for expandin’ my paradigms, embracin’ the miracles…”

“So you decided to illegally follow Miss Maryam to a class you don’t pay to attend?” he argued indisputably and with a rising urgency in his voice. “This unusual act, which connects you even closer to the person you are being accused and held on trial for abducting and raping, is how you choose to spend your free time?”

“I TOLD YOU MOTHERFUCKERS,” Gamzee roared out into the echoing court room. “I DIDN’T ALL UP AND DO ANY OF THAT MOTHERFUCKING RAPING SHIT. I HAVEN’T DONE A SINGLE MOTHERFUCKING THING WITH THAT SISTER THAT YOU’RE ALL ACCUSIN’ ME OF!”

The sound of a wooden hammer came crashing down with three loud thuds, dragging the attention of all in the room away from the manic boy.

“Mr Makara!” the terrifying judge boomed with condemnation. “If you cannot control yourself or your language then I will be forced to hold you in the contempt of court. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes,” came a low, reluctant grumble.

“That is all, Your Honour,” the prosecution lawyer said with a grin, then turned to walk back to his seat.

As Gamzee Makara stepped down from the witness box, accompanied by two police officers either side of him, Kanaya noticed the chillingly fearful expressions that had made themselves comfortable on the faces of the jury. Tearing her eyes from the jury, to the lawyers and then to the members of public in the gallery, she realised that they all gazed at the accused with the same degree of shock and disgust. Kanaya clutched her hands together and fumbled her fingers nervously, knowing that her own face probably matched those of the others.

Next, the defence lawyer nearest to her stood up to address the court and announced, “we bring Vriska Serket to the stand, Your Honour.”

Kanaya swished her head around at the sound of the familiar name, and watched with entranced focus as her former friend took her place in the witness box.

“Do you swear that the evidence you give in court, shall be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God?”

“I swear.”

“Then please take a seat,” the defence told her, and she carried out the instruction. “To begin, you consider yourself good friends with the victim Miss Maryam, yes?”

“The last few months have been tricky, so I don’t know if I’d say ‘good’ anymore,” Vriska replied with bitter honesty. “But at the time of the attack I’d say we were very close.”

“Close enough to come to her rescue when she was in need, apparently,” he confirmed. “May I ask how you knew her whereabouts that morning?”

“I got a text from Gamzee,” she explained with a charming smile. “He told me she crashed at his place for the night after getting drunk and losing her friends.”

“LIAR!” came a scream from Makara’s seat. The judge nodded towards the officers in the room as they took Gamzee by the arms and dragged the raving boy out of the room.

“Doesn’t he remember?” Vriska asked innocently. “Poor boy, he needs to get his head sorted out.”

“Yes, thank you Miss Serket,” the defence replied with a hint of sarcasm to cut her off. “It is true that the police have received evidence from both your and Mr Makara’s mobile devices that these messages were sent. This information should be in the evidential report which will be handed to the jury.”

Vriska gave another winning smile and nodded.

“However despite evidence saying that she stayed at Makara’s, a number of your roommates report you telling them that you supposedly brought Miss Maryam back to the dormitories that night before taking her to a friend early in the morning,” the lawyer stated. “How can this be true?”

“Look, Gamzee told me he’d found her unconscious on the floor that night, he said he thought she’d been hurt,” she said forcefully. “I figured that surely the people she was with would’ve been looking out for her. But if they weren’t, and she was alone, there was a good chance they could have been behind the whole thing! There was no way I was going to tell them the truth, so I lied and told the police the real story.”

“Would you therefore say that you have a rocky relationship with the members of your dormitory?” he asked.

“I don’t see what that has anything to do with it,” she said. “But yeah, I guess.”

“All information is significant, Miss Serket,” the lawyer responded as he pulled one cluster of papers to the front of his pile. “Including where you were on the night of the attack? Mr Makara has reported seeing you with the victim late that night.”

“I saw her, yeah,” she confirmed. “Near the clubs, along the darker streets and stuff. She was with someone, but it was dark and I couldn’t see who it was properly. I didn’t realise it at the time because it was late, and I was tipsy and I didn’t have the information I have now, but it had to be Gamzee.”

“Let’s not make predictions,” the lawyer warned her. “What were you doing in the darkened alleys around the nightclubs all alone?”

“I heard my friends were going clubbing, but I wasn’t invited. You’d figure they’d learn to lower the volumes of their stupid squealing when someone they didn’t want to come came home, wouldn’t you?” she grunted with frustration. “I wasn’t invited with them, but I thought I’d go anyway, even if it was just by myself. Because I wasn’t about to let some losers make me feel like crap when I could go out and have fun myself! So that’s why I was down there.”

He raised an eyebrow. “I asked why you were in the alleyways, Miss Serket,” he reiterated.

“I got chucked out,” she rolled her eyes. “That’s my alibi too, before you ask.”

“Yes, I have it written here,” he replied, holding one sheet of paper in his right hand and the others in his left. “It says you saw your friends enter the nightclub, caused a fight with two men and then removed your top, resulting in your removal from the building. I understand that therefore you were out of the club before Miss Maryam had a chance to have a beverage and be led away by the unknown perpetrator.”

Vriska nodded smugly.

“But once again, I pose the same question to you,” he said again, trapping her in intense eye contact. “Why were you in the alleyways?”

“They’re on the way home, alright? What do you expect my answer to be?” she replied with a snarl. “Sure I could have gone the safer way along the public street, but I was a bit drunk and annoyed at my so-called friends for not inviting me out. I went that way because I could. And I wasn’t walking for long before Kanaya stumbled past me with that unknown perp you were talking about.”

The lawyer frowned at her before, once again, shuffling and scanning through his notes. “So your explanation for the majority of things you are being questioned on is that you didn’t trust your friends?”

She shrugged nonchalantly.

“Your relationships with many people in this case appear to be unstable to say the least, most are quite negative, wouldn’t you agree?” he asked rhetorically. “Do you think it would be ridiculous to consider the possibility of you setting up this situation in an attempt to frame and initiate revenge on your enemies?”

“What, to frame Gamzee?” she repeated and then burst out laughing. “Gamzee isn’t my enemy, he’s a friend. If telling the truth and testifying against someone makes them an enemy then so be it, but when the attack happened he was definitely a good friend. And I mean a veeeeeeeery good friend.”

She winked knowingly, and for a moment the court was in a disarray of exchanged curious glances.

“Do you mean to say that you and Mr Makara were engaging in sexual relations during the time leading up to the attack?” he asked.

She cackled again and stared at the man in front of her, transfixing him with the mischievous glimmer present in her eyes. “Well, yeah. Show me the law against screwing a guy too stoned to care who it’s with,” she said clearly for everyone to hear, a Cheshire cat grin across her devilish face. “A free fuck is a free fuck, am I right?”

A moment of silence.

"No further questions...Your Honour."


	14. Too Cool for Rationality

Kanaya sighed as she trudged out of court for the fourth time this month. Would this trial never end? Of course she knew it had to eventually. In fact, she knew exactly when: next week would be the last trial day, and the day the jury would be asked to deliver their verdict. Still, despite this information, the trial seemed to drag on for forever and she struggled to believe in its imminent end. 

As the flurry of people behind her began to exit the building and drift into the frozen city, she remained rooted to the ground and allowed the people to weave in and out of her like a slow moving stampede.

A hand rested on her shoulder, shocking some life and movement into her cold, rigid body. She turned to see Rose and her warm smile which immediately brightened the bleak surroundings around her.

“Hey,” she said, a soft glow in her cheeks. “You did great today.”

“Do you think so?” Kanaya replied uneasily. “I’m not sure if I was any real help.”

“Of course you were,” Rose confirmed, rubbing the same shoulder in support. “You answered all their questions marvellously. Such grace has never been witnessed in a courtroom before.”

Kanaya laughed. “If you say so.”

“I do,” she nodded with a cheery grin. Then her expression melted into something softer, something less playful and more affectionate. Her eyes drooped slightly and her tone became a low whisper. “I really am proud of you.”

“Thank you,” Kanaya replied, matching the quiet tone and placing her hand gently on top of Rose’s. “You know, I doubt I would have had the nerve to do all of this had it not been for your support.”

“Oh, I didn’t do anything really,” Rose chuckled modestly. “Everything you have achieved has been due to your own unwavering courage.”

“Ah but still,” she smiled. “I owe a lot of that courage to you.”

Rose giggled softly again and leaned up slightly to kiss her. “Come on,” she said huskily, her lips grazing Kanaya’s. “We’ve got to get to the airport, remember?”

“Oh yes, of course,” Kanaya replied with the urgency of remembrance, though her lips lingered forwards for another kiss. “I almost forgot, sorry.”

Rose gave her another quick peck before breaking away. “It’s fine,” she replied. “Giving evidence in court tends to steal most of a person’s attention away. But we should really get going so that we are not late.”

Kanaya nodded and they made their way to the waiting cab that had just pulled up next to the path. They got in and started their short journey to the airport which lay just a few miles outside of Husscity. Honestly, Kanaya was surprised that Rose had bothered to pay for a cab this time instead of bugging Karkat into driving them. Then again, the last time they had asked Karkat to drive them somewhere he never turned up. Plus he always got cranky about driving everyone everywhere, so maybe it was a good idea to give the poor boy a break.

 

***

 

They arrived at the airport in good time and found the exit terminal with ease. Kanaya had to admit that it was simply adorable watching Rose’s excitement bubble as the time grew closer and closer for the plane to land, as much as she tried to hide it, of course. Every now and again she would catch her staring attentively out the window to see the landing planes, and then quickly darting her eyes up towards the timetable to determine whether that could be the anticipated aircraft.

After a delay of twenty minutes, a short time to wait but a delay nevertheless, people began to pour out of the gate. Rose scanned the crowd with elated focus until finally she caught sight of the person they were expecting. As soon as she saw him, she dulled down her excited body language and turned her facial expression into one of effortless content which hid a trace of playful sarcasm.

“How was your flight?” she asked in greeting, obviously suppressing her glee.

“It was cool,” the blonde boy replied with a shrug and a smile. “Just a regular journey on a chunk of metal that can travel through air like it’s got some kind of rad magic.”

“It’s called an upward force, Dave,” Rose informed him. “One of the many incredible discoveries in physics which has led to the practical application in the real world of convenient travel.”

“Yeah whatever,” Dave answered. “Who knows how that shit really works. Like, you say its upward force, but have you ever tested that little theory of yours?”

“I personally have not,” she replied as they turned and made their way back towards the exit. “However I trust the supporting work and experiments of many established scientists.”

“I don’t know, all these so-called scientists saying the same stuff,” he said with yet another shrug. “Seems pretty damn suspicious considering that none of them are pilots.”

“What has that got to do with anything?” Rose asked, slightly baffled.

Dave simply tapped his nose knowingly. “The pilots have got the secrets, Rose,” he said. “Pilots are smart, they know what’s really going on. I mean, they fly planes. Can you fly a two hundred ton plane? No. Pilots will fuck you up.”

She stifled a laugh and rolled her eyes. “Sure,” she said as the boy continued to argue his conspiracy case, which Kanaya couldn’t tell was ironic or not.

“Oh!” Rose suddenly stopped in her tracks and turned to the two people beside her. “I’m so sorry, I completely forgot to formerly introduce you. Kanaya this is my brother Dave, and Dave this is my girlfriend Kanaya.”

“You did kind of text me about her, so I know who she is,” Dave reminded her. “But hey, anyway.”

“Yes, regardless of being told of your arrival it is nice to meet you as well,” Kanaya returned. “Rose has told me a lot about you.”

“You’ve heard the legends and now you get to meet the real deal, nice,” he nodded with approval. “Rose drones on about you for hours too. Like seriously, I keep telling her she needs to get a new hobby or something. But I guess it’s cool that she has someone so important in her life.”

“It is an honour being a part of her life,” she replied with a smile. “She is as immensely important to me as I am to her. Rose has supported me throughout these last difficult months like no one else, and honestly I do not know if I would have been able to handle it without her.”

Rose leaned forwards and grabbed Kanaya, drawing her into a tight embrace.

“You know I’m always here for you,” she said into the wisps of Kanaya’s hair. “And I always will be.”

“Yeah,” she said, closing her eyes and wrapping her arms around Rose. “I know.”

“Well isn’t that just the cutest thing,” Dave commented, resulting in Rose raising a brash eyebrow at him. “No seriously, it’s freaking adorable. You can’t see it because I’ve got my shades on, but my eyes are tearing up like Niagara from watching this mushy love show going on in front of me.”

The girls parted and Rose flashed another mischievous smile at her brother before leading the group towards the car park. Kanaya wondered if perhaps this was how the siblings showed love? Sarcasm and irony were wonderfully defensive forms of affection, after all.

Before she knew it, they had reached the edge of the car park. However there were no signs of any standard black cabs waiting for them to enter.

“Rose, did you book a cab back home?” Kanaya asked, surprised that she was even considering the possibility that Rose had forgotten to organise such a necessity.

“Of course not,” Rose replied, wafting her hand at the idea. “It was expensive enough getting here in the first place. No, I asked a friend to drive us back.”

“What friend?”

“Do you really need to ask?” She replied devilishly as she motioned to the small red car that had just pulled up a few yards away.

Upon reflection, Kanaya was probably far too happy about this revelation than she should have been. She knew she shouldn’t take satisfaction in dragging around the only boy with a car that they knew, it was quite unfair on him especially considering the amount of other people who also subjected him to such demands. However there was something addictive about Karkat’s dramatic raves and unnecessary petty insults which always provided a unique kind of entertainment that Kanaya found endearing. Riling him up by constantly asking for lifts was mean, but also very, very funny.

“Hello Karkat, how are you today?” Kanaya asked, trying to hide her already growing smile.

“Oh just fine,” Karkat growled. “Driving out to airports to pick up other people’s relatives is my favourite thing to do in my spare time.”

“Thank you, it’s very nice of you to do this for us,” Rose replied, buckling up. “Karkat, this is my brother Dave. He’s staying with us for a few days while he competes in an international DJ competition.”

“Hey fucker.”

“Yo.”

“Karkat!” Kanaya exclaimed. “That is not a very polite way to greet someone.”

“Nah it’s cool, don’t worry about it,” Dave replied dismissively. “He’s just feeling threatened in the presence of a God. Happens all the time, I’m used to it.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Karkat spat. “Don’t tell me you’ve got some kind of weird God complex or some shit.”

“Stage one is denial, dude,” Dave said. “This is a natural reaction, so just let it all out.”

“What the hell is wrong with you?” He replied, yanking on the gear stick and driving out of the busy car park. “You can’t honestly believe this. I mean seriously, are you fucking with me right now?”

“I can if you want to, man.”

“What?”

“Just saying,” Dave shrugged. “If that’s what you’re into I don’t mind helping you out in that region. What kind of benevolent super God would I be if I didn’t sex it up with my followers when they’re feeling insecure?”

“What even is this conversation?!” Karkat yelled furiously, pushing his foot down on the accelerator and grabbing angrily at the gear stick yet again. “Who do you think I am? Who do you think YOU are? Holy fuck, he’s insane. Rose, someone seriously defecated in your brother’s skull because shit is just pouring out of the useless gaping hole he calls a mouth.”

“No, he just likes messing with people,” Rose partially explained. “Just grin and bear it, he’ll eventually stop.”

“But it’s fucking weird,” he grumbled unhappily.

“Just ignore him,” she advised. “He can smell fear.”

“Well I apologise for wanting to guide one of my lost sheep back to the flock,” Dave sighed dramatically. “It’s so hard to be a good sheep herder these days, especially on top of all my other work. Like, as if I didn’t have enough on my plate with all the standard God-work and preparing myself to lay down some sick beats at this competition.”

Karkat was silent, eyes glued angrily towards the windscreen.

Dave smiled. “Ha, or should I say…sick bleats?”

A few groans were summoned from the other passengers, but no sound left Karkat’s lips as he continued to stare madly ahead.

“Sick bleats,” he repeated with a grin.

A drop of sweat began to roll down Karkat’s pulsing temple.

“Sick. Bleats.”

His knuckles cracked as he changed gears violently again. His teeth grated against each other. Tiny red veins were appearing on his eyeballs as they strained desperately forwards.

Dave eyed the boy’s hand movements and raised his eyebrow, smiling tentatively at him from the back seat.

“You’re grabbing that gear stick pretty hard, dude.”

“I AM TRYING TO FUCKING DRIVE!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another late chapter. Ah, I'm so good at this. This is organisation right here. Start taking notes, grab a pen and paper because this is how you fucking write punctually.


	15. Troubled Bass

Dave spent the next two nights on a few blankets on Rose’s bedroom floor. Everyone in the dorm agreed that he was a pleasant addition to the household, even if it was only temporary. When his sister and Kanaya weren’t guiding him around the city, he seemed to attract people from all over the campus, and within the first couple of days he had already made friends with more people than Kanaya had in her first year.

“I don’t understand how he does it,” Kanaya said as she stood in the doorway, watching Dave and Terezi flirting from across the room. “How can he be so social yet at the same time appear so apathetic?”

“It’s a talent,” Rose agreed from her desk, buried in books.

“I’m serious,” she continued. “I’ve mentioned everyone I know to him and he knows them all! Even the people whom I’ve hardly spent any company with.”

“He probably accomplishes it through procrastination,” Rose commented. “He should be practising for the contest today, not gallivanting around making friends.”

“I don’t think he regards them as friends, perhaps simply acquaintances,” Kanaya replied, quietly observing as Terezi dabbed a small red pen mark on the end of Dave’s nose. “Except maybe some.”

“Who cares?” Rose said, rolling her eyes. “We have more important things to consider than my brother’s love life. Do the words ‘final exams in two months’ ring any bells?”

This time Kanaya rolled her eyes. “You have been studying a great deal and so have I. I think we have warranted a break.”

“Break all you want, I want those grades,” she replied confidently, tapping her pen on the paper a few times. “Honestly, I expected better of you than to lurk around corners rather than revising.”

“I am not lurking,” Kanaya protested, folding her arms. “I’m simply standing in my own dormitory.”

“You’re kind of lurking,” Terezi called back, causing Rose to peer up from her books and giggle.

“No I’m not!” she spluttered, blushing and tightening her crossed arms. “I am perfectly within my rights.”

“Still creepy though,” Terezi replied with a cheeky grin.

“Nah, Kanaynay’s alright,” Dave said, leaning back on his chair and away from Terezi for the first time in forty minutes.

“Dave, shouldn’t you be getting ready?” Rose yelled to him from her book fort.

“I’ve still got two hours, what’s the rush?” he shrugged and leaned back further in his chair.

“But don’t you need to set up?” she asked. “You should get there early, just in case. What if something goes wrong? Everything is riding on this one moment, Dave, you can’t just go in unprepared. Your scholarship, your career, your entire future depends on this one set you play. I really don’t think you should be wasting time balancing on the back legs of your chair right now when you could be making sure everything is in order.”

“Yeah, yeah,” he sighed and plonked his chair back down on the ground and stood up. “Another short but boring lecture from Lalonde. I get it, I’ll go get my stuff together.”

“You haven’t even begun to gather your things?” Rose groaned. “I swear, if I weren’t here to remind you…”

“I’d be doing fine,” he said as he left the living area and walked towards his sister’s room.

It didn’t take Dave long before he had expertly collapsed his turntables and mixing gear. Damn would he spin out some ill jams with these babies later.

“We still have a while until the competition, but should we leave now to ensure we are on time?” Kanaya suggested as Dave zipped up the large bag containing his stuff. “We could grab a hot beverage while we wait.”

“Sounds good to me,” Dave replied. “And I’m sure Rose is up for a bit of sweet punctuality, right?”

Rose winced as she tore her eyes away from her studies. A tight, fake grin made its way onto her face as she nodded and tried to ignore the tolling bell of the countdown to exams in her head.

“I’ll come too,” Terezi announced, standing up and walking over to the group. “It’ll be awesome to see the Strider in action.”

Dave smiled, “hell yeah it will.”

 

***

 

The group huddled into a coffee shop close to the Husscity Events Hall and breathed out the cold air. It was ridiculously cold for the end of March, and everyone was beginning to get a little frustrated with it.

A macchiato, hot chocolate, spiced apple latte and caramel mocha were ordered and held close to the group’s chests to warm them up. They sat there slurping and shivering until some members felt revitalised enough to ask Dave about his set and how he was feeling.

“I’ll have a cinnamon latte, to go.”

Who was that? Kanaya spun her head around at the sound of a voice she felt was familiar, but saw no one she recognised. She frowned and turned back to her friends, feeling rather unsettled.

“Kanaya,” Rose said forcefully, grabbing her attention. Apparently she had been saying her name for a while. “Ready to go?”

“Oh, right, of course,” she nodded and stood up with the others.

“And hey, I was going to give you this later but since we’re about to go into the cold again…” Rose dug through her bag for a minute and then presented a small parcel wrapped in lilac paper which she passed to Kanaya.

Kanaya began untying the soft gift as the others watched with pleasant smiles on their faces.

“I know you tried to teach me to sew,” Rose laughed nervously. “But I think I’m a lot more proficient at this…at least, I hope I am.”

“Rose,” Kanaya breathed, holding the gift aloft. “It’s beautiful.”

The jade green scarf was incredibly thick and soft. The fleecy wool warmed her hands as she held it up to admire the craftsmanship and the amazing rainbow lettering spun across the length which read ‘Maryam’.

“I’m glad you like it,” she gave a sigh of relief. “I just wanted to put my skills to use and make something for you.”

“It’s wonderful,” Kanaya beamed. “Thank you so much!”

She took a step forwards and pulled Rose towards her, giving her an affectionate squeeze before pressing her lips against hers.

“Come on guys, we’re in public,” Terezi grinned. “No sex on the coffee tables.”

They both laughed, lips still touching. When they eventually parted, Kanaya wrapped the scarf around her neck and then took Rose’s hand to make their way over to the Events Hall.

 

***

 

There were ten international finalists at the competition, and Dave was scheduled as the ninth musician to perform. The girls were told to go sit with the spectators, although they were given VIP tags and allowed front row seats as special guests of the competitors, while Dave was instructed to remain backstage with the other performers.

The music was amazing, and that’s all there really was to say about it. Terezi head-banged throughout every act and screamed at the end of them all. As someone who had never seen Dave perform, Kanaya sat nervously nibbling her popcorn as she watched each incredible musician blow her away time after time. However Rose sat with a sense of confidence that relaxed her; you could tell she knew her brother’s potential, and had faith in his success.

Just as she too began to relax, her heart suddenly began to beat faster again as competitor number eight began to blast music from her turntables. She was not worried about Dave’s approaching time in the spotlight, nor the person currently on the stage. Instead, her heart was racing because she had just caught sight of someone slipping past the security guard by the side of the stage.

Kanaya grabbed Rose’s wrist and looked at her with alarm.

“What is it?” she asked, quickly swallowing a few pieces of popcorn.

“Vriska.”

Getting out of their seats and carefully stepping over people’s feet, they made their way to the side of the stage as bass and riffs erupted from the speakers next to them. The security guard took notice of their stumbling but waved them past when they held up their VIP tags.

“Are you sure you saw her?” Rose asked as they ran down the slim corridor.

“Certain,” Kanaya nodded. “I think she may have been at the coffee shop too, I’m positive now that I heard her voice in there. She must have followed us here.”

“But why?” Rose pondered as they kept their eyes open for their target. “Why come here and why go backstage?”

“I don’t know,” she replied. “But I doubt she has any good intentions.”

The side corridor led the girls to a wider corridor with many small rooms, presumably dressing rooms and storage for the production staff.

*THUMP*

It came from the left. The girls ran towards the sound as short cries from behind the walls grew louder. They reached one locked door and gave a few rapid knocks.

“Vriska, are you in there?” Kanaya demanded.

There was a pause. The door shook open after a few pulls from the other side to reveal Dave, looking a little ruffled, with a red-faced Vriska standing defiantly in the corner of the room.

“This crazy girl with you?” he puffed, gesturing behind him to the girl in the baggy grey hoodie and black jeans.

Rose dragged him out of the doorway and looked him up and down. “Did she hurt you?” She asked with concern.

“No, I’m good,” he said, gently pushing her off him. “She just locked the door and started screaming at me.”

Kanaya glared at Vriska. “Why?” she asked angrily.

“Because…”

“Contestant number nine, Dave Strider?” barked a man who had just stopped by the door. When Dave raised his hand, the man grabbed it and began dragging him off towards the stage saying, “You’re on in one minute kid! Get it together.”

Now aware that they were alone, Rose walked inside the room and shut the door behind them. “Well?” she said irritably. “Are you going to tell us why you were harassing my brother?”

“I…” she murmured awkwardly. “I don’t know, no good reason I guess.”

“That is not an answer,” Rose growled. “Now don’t tell me you’re tongue tied, Vriska.”

“I’m not,” Vriska growled back, but huddled in a corner she seemed much less intimidating. “I just wanted to see Dave.”

“Why?” Kanaya asked with more curiosity than anything.

“I wanted to know how long he was staying here for,” she replied defensively. “Can’t I ask people shit nowadays?”

“Not when it concerns us,” Rose said, glaring straight ahead. “Or my brother. Why do you care about how long he stays anyway?”

“Um, because he’s crashing in my dorm?” Vriska answered. “In case you forgot, I also live there. I just wanted to know how many Lalondes I would have to suffer through.”

“Oh don’t worry,” Rose seethed. “It’s just the one. But it’s going to be a long, painful suffering, bitch.”

“Whoa, ok,” Kanaya chirped in, lightening her tone and stepping between the girls. “Let’s not get too argumentative. Relations may not be at their best but I think we should retain a degree of civility, don’t you agree Rose?”

“No, she’s trying to interfere with my brother,” she replied unsympathetically. “And, quite frankly, I find her rudeness towards me exasperating.”

“I find your whole existence exasperating,” Vriska spat, taking a step closer to her rival. “All you do is walk in and take everything for yourself. It’s just take, take, take, take, take, take, take, take!”

“I haven’t taken anything!” Rose cried. “Perhaps you only lost things because you didn’t take proper care of them in the first place!”

“I took great care of them!” Vriska roared. “They were the most important things to me and then you came along - late, I might fucking add! - and just swept them right out from under me!”

“I am telling you I didn’t sweep anything!” she yelled furiously. “It just happened! Obviously you let your jealousy get the better of you and didn’t pay enough attention, so you lost things. Unfortunately, that is how the world functions!”

“No!” Vriska screamed and lunged forwards. “You STOLE her!”

Pushing Kanaya to the side, Vriska landed on top of Rose and began clawing at her face and pulling at her hair. Both girls screamed as each of them kept their vulnerable eyes shut and blindly released attacks upon the body closest to them.

“Stop!” Kanaya yelled above them, but there was little point; the two girls were far too enraged to even hear her.

Not knowing what else to do, she marched over to the sprawling girls and used one hand to grab Vriska’s shoulder and the other to take her bobbing black ponytail. With a sharp tug and some brute upper body strength, Kanaya threw Vriska off of Rose so that she landed a few feet away on the ground, generally unhurt.

She extended a hand and pulled her girlfriend up off the floor. After checking that there were no serious injuries, Kanaya turned to Vriska and sternly told her that they were leaving and that she should do the same.

 

***

 

By the time they had cleaned up in the bathrooms and made their way back to their seats in the audience, they had missed Dave’s performance and the judges had almost come to their final decision.

Terezi asked questions, obviously. But they simply told her that they had gone to find a bathroom and Rose had slipped on the way. After all, they really didn’t want to involve themselves in any more pointless Vriska revenge shit today.

Later still, while standing on the stage with his other finalists, Dave was informed that he had won his scholarship. He collected his trophy with a smile, but there was something artificial about it that was hard to put your finger on. It wasn’t until he turned his head towards Rose and Kanaya who had returned to their seats, and his smile shifted into a frown for a fraction of a second, that Kanaya thought she may understand.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! This is my first Humanstuck (or even Homestuck) fanfiction so please leave feedback because I'd love to know what you think of it :D  
> If you like it, I'll add more chapters ;)


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